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Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator

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Quick Specs: 500W | 5 Round Plastic Tray Stack (expandable to 12) | Top-down Fan System

Best For: Smaller batches and for people only using their dehydrators a few times a year. You'll still get excellent quality results when you turn the heat down slightly

Pros:

• Compact Size - Smaller size makes it easy to store and doesn't take up too much counter space when in use
• Fast & Efficient - The Nesco's heating system and design quickly finish up your dehydrating projects 
• Drys Evenly - All the food we made was dried evenly, the bottom tray dried just a little slower, but the Nesco has effective heat & air flow 
  

Cons:

• Cooks hotter than temperature dial indicated - Nesco sometimes made too dry and roasted tasting food because of the hotter temperatures 

 

Our Testing Phase

We tested a little bit of everything you might be making in a dehydrator. Pineapples - for a high moisture fruit, Bananas - for a medium moisture fruit, Mushrooms - for a low moisture vegetable, sliced beef jerky, and stick style jerky- for raw meat.  In each of these foods, we were testing pieces for moisture content, texture, and taste.

A good dehydrator should be able to evenly dry your food at a proper and consistent temperature. This will produce optimal tasting and shelf-stable dehydrated food.

 

 

Design & Construction

Nesco offers a small and compact dehydration solution. If you're only going to be using your dehydrator for smaller batches or maybe you only break out the dehydrator once a season, the compact Nesco would be a good fit for you. Compact size means that the heating element has less space to continually keep warm. The heat produced doesn't have to travel very far, so that warmth is not lost like on larger units with a larger area to maintain.

The user interface is simple; just select a temperature with the dial and plugin. There isn't even an on/off switch, the unit starts to run as soon as you plug it into the wall. There is no shut-off timer or anything fancy with this unit. The Nesco is a top-fan mount where the heating element is heated then the fan circulates that heat throughout the circular trays. The design is not complicated, but it is efficient and effective.

The airflow system is specially designed by Nesco called the Converge-a-Flow method of air circulation The top-mounted fan moves air vertically and horizontally across each tray. The air flow is well regulated and efficiently maintained, no matter how many trays are being used, up to the dehydrator's maximum 12 trays. There's no need for rotating trays with this effective method - also no increasing drying time when you add more trays.

 

The trays are circular in design and have skinny slots and hole in the middle - this is where most of the heat is going to travel through. Nesco includes five trays with this unit but is expandable up to 12. Also, they have special mats for fruit leather and a finer mesh screen for smaller cuts of fruits and veggies that may fall through the holes of the trays.

Test Drive

The Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator is incredibly fast at drying whatever you're loading on its trays. On all our test, from banana chips to jerky, the Nesco did the job in promised time it stated in the user manual.  It dehydrates fast for a few reasons: Small surface area, efficient airflow system, and higher than advertised temperatures.

To make sure our dehydrator was keeping proper temperature, we used a digital thermometer to gauge how well the unit was heating. The Nesco was set to 125F on the temperature gauge - we saw that we were maintaining a constant 130F at the bottom of the unit, so I can only imagine it was even a higher temperature at the top of the unit by the heating element and fan. 

It was easy to remove food from the trays after the dehydrating process was finished. There was a little bit of stick to the plastic, but for the most part, food easily peeled up from the trays. 

Taste Test

The higher temperature gave all our foods we tested a crisper outside and a slight cooked, oven roasted taste versus a traditional dried taste. The pineapple and jerky strips were definitely more chewy and dry than what it should be. This issue can be fixed by lowering the temperature on the gauge, you just have to remember to cook slightly lower than what is labeled on the Nesco. None of the food we dehydrated tasted bad by any means, everything from the mushrooms to the jerky was still enjoyable and shelf stable. 

I was highly impressed with the quality of the Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator. The unit has a solid build and is simple to use. I like how fast the Nesco can dehydrate whatever I plop in there - the airflow system is very efficient and evenly dries the food. Although the temperature gauge is a bit off, I was still satisfied with all the jerky and dehydrated pineapple I have in the pantry now. If you're looking for a low-investment dehydrator to use occasionally, I give the Nesco my seal of approval.