Customer Reviews

Nesco American Harvest FD-35BJW-5 Snackmaster Entr?e Fodd Dehydrator with Jerky Kit

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this item based on the above review and i'm glad i did..

it's a little on the noisy side...and puts off quite a bit of heat...but other than that.....it does a great job.

I've been drying peaches in it for the last few days and i'm quite pleased with the way they turned out.......can't wait to try other fruits in it and beef/venison jerky as well.

I bought this on a whim, after reading a review about somebody making beef jerky. When I first unpacked it, I was a little bit miffed that it didn't have a temperature setting - but it was soon enough proven that wasn't really necessary!

For my trial run, I made a batch of beef jerky, slightly tweaking an Alton Brown recipe by using artificial sweetener instead of sugar. I used presliced ball tip roast (aka carne asada meat) from Costco; marinated 3 hours, dried about 6. It came out - PERFECTLY!

Next, I loaded up the trays with thinly sliced dry Italian salami and made "salami chips" - pretty good too!

Third batch, another of beef jerky - this time, after loading the trays, I sprinkled some with freshly-ground black pepper, some with red pepper flakes, and left the rest as they were. I also used some top round I had in the freezer, slicing it thinly with a good sharp knife.

Fourth batch, salmon jerky! I used the farmed boneless skinless filets from Costco and quickly learned that slicing it LENGTHWISE of the filets worked much better than CROSSWISE slices. I trimmed off the fattiest parts, made a sort of teriyaki marinade, marinated it for an hour and dried for about 9 hours. YUM.

Tomorrow, I will make more beef and salmon jerkies! My hubby is in jerky heaven. 3 pounds of meat is about right to fill the trays, and comes out to around a pound plus of jerky.

This little device works perfectly. You can buy additional trays if you like - for us (family of 2) what came with it is perfectly adequate!

One of these days I'm going to try the ground meat jerky and use the "jerky shooter" that was a bonus when I bought this!

It's easy to clean too - I find that just running a sinkful of sudsy water, letting it soak, then using a dish brush on it works faster and better than the dishwasher, which had a tendency to "warp" the trays out of shape slightly.

I want to try some veggie chips too - zucchini maybe, or Butternut squash - so many ideas, so little time! ;-)

I have already used this two different times since purchase. I use it for jerky making, drying herbs and fruits. It is powerful and works quickly. I am well pleased with this dehydrator.

Couldn't be happier with this dehydrator. Now that it's fall, apples are very abundant here in Idaho. I've been dehydrating apples daily for the last two weeks. I can't make enough. My kids eat them like potato chips. They come out crisp and crunchy after 8-9 hours and have no grease or fat. I had to order two more trays just to keep up. I bought a slicer for about $10 that slices the apples to about 1/8th thickness. works great. This things like the energize bunny. Just keeps on going..May have to buy another. I only have two kids, but this is the only snack they'll eat that healthy. Great price. terrific product...

I have made 3 batches of ground beef jerky using the small tube in the jerky gun and the seasoning that came with the unit. It does great! I seperated my sticks about 1 inch apart and dried till rubbery (DONT over dry!!!! nasty!!!) Oh and use 95%+ lean ground beef or deer. Works out so much better. Love this thing!! Going to make huge batches for my fishing trip to Canada this summer.

I've used this to make beef jerky and dried fruit. Jerky never takes much more than 4 hours. The jerky gun works fairly quickly and turns ground beef into strips, which taste great with the nesco jerky cure and spice packets that come with the machine.

The downside to this machine is the tremendous noise it makes. Maybe an outlet timer would go well with it, so you can set food to dry while you are away and it will shut off automatically when things are done.

This is the only jerky maker I have ever used, but I am very happy with what is does.

The dehydrator came to me with the beef jerky seasoning packets exploded all over the box, which was a sticky mess. The dehydrator itself works fine. From what I understand, there are many factors that play into drying time, but it did take quite a bit longer than expected to dry things out. There is a lot of space within the unit, and it is pretty easy to clean. I would recommend this dehydrator to someone new to food dehydrating.

We purchased the Nesco FD-35 about three weeks ago... and already have made (and ate) at least 20 pounds of beef and turkey jerky, with the assistance of the nifty jerky gun (included in my purchase and highly recommended). The dehydration time is fast, and it dehydrates all five included racks evenly. I will be purchasing two more racks so can't speak to the dehydration times and quality for additional racks (yet). Yes, it is a bit noisy, but the delicious smells that emits from it makes me forget about the sound. For those worried, it sounds a bit like a space heater with a fan. It is easy to clean, easy to operate (you just flip a switch), and the temperature is perfect for most anything you want to dehydrate. I did hear things about it being too hot for drying herbs, but I have experimented with anything and everything in my fridge and no problems. It does get a bit warm but never hot. You don't need to worry about being burned by any of the parts. Would I buy it again if I had the chance? Yes. Heck, I would buy more than just one. In fact, I am going to be buying another because we have so many requests for jerky from family and friends.

Just what I've been looking for. Picked this up the other day from Menards for 36 bucks, it has been humming along ever since. Put a new batch in before bed, empty and refill in the morning, empty refill at night, repeat repeat repeat!

Some have said it's a bit noisy, it's just the humming of the fan inside of it- not a big deal. (Trust me, you do NOT want a dehydrator without a fan) The heat from this is also certainly less than the oven dehydrating method, not to mention less of a hassle. (I honestly wonder if the reviews complaining about the heat even understand the dehydrating process, it must be around 95-155 degrees in there and the air must keep moving, therefore it must be semi hot- and it cannot be in a closed space, hence the air must leave the dehydrator.. this causes some heat around the dehydrator naturally.)

My toddler was eating my dried bananas and kiwi straight from the trays as I was emptying them this morning, LOL. The kiwis are gone already. =(

Anyone with a child that eats fruit and leaves half of it out to spoil only to demand more fruit later would absolutely love this!! LOL Being able to preserve fruit when it's in season and cheap at different parts of the year will be a godsend with this economy. (How I long for the part of the year with $1 containers of strawberries right now)

Can't wait to try all sorts of jerky, my freezer is overflowing with meat !

The only cons are that you will need to buy more trays (especially the fruit roll tray) and probably will want to buy a second dehydrator one down the road to dehydrate even more things.