Quote:
Originally Posted by MoneyGuy
I don’t know if the air fryer does that or not. I know it’s very effective at cooking ‘most anything.
|
What is the lowest temp for your air fryer? Many don't go below 80-90C (Around 200F) which would likely cook and brown the fruit prior to drying it out. You'll have something dry, but I don't think it'll be what you're hoping for. It's still worth a test, but I don't think it'll be what you're aiming for.
Why 200F might work for an oven but not an air fryer IMO is basically due to two things IMO. The food isn't as close to the element and there isn't the airflow under the food. You're right that the air fryer is good at cooking most anything, but sometimes you just want to dry without cooking the thing you put inside. This is especially true for fruits, but kinda 50/50 for jerkies.
You had mentioned apple chips. Yes, you'd probably be aiming for a higher temp for apple chips than apple rings. But even then, the lowest temps on an air fryer still seem too high. I'm pretty sure the air fryer doesn't recirculate the moist air as per the previous convo, but I am quite certain it's not quite the right tool for the job. Your apple chips may end up with a sort of burnt flavor in an air fryer as it is more delicate than meat.
Many dehydrators are around the 30-60C range vs 90-200C for air fryers. This is the one I have. It has a ton of materials and explanations on how to dehydrate things.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...e?ie=UTF8&th=1
At around 30-40C, most fruit maintain their colors. At around 50C, some fruit starts to brown (ie: Peaches, pineapple, apple, banana etc.) some fruit still maintains the color, but starts to go slightly opaque and darker in color (ie: honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon). Texture also differs as well as low heat drying allows for the inside and outside texture to be similar. This is easier and more appropriate for things like dried fruits with texture. Higher heat drying sorta creates a "crust" which sometimes means failure for drying fruits if the thickness is incorrect. The outside is dry and hard but the inside is basically still mushy and damp. This is acceptable for stuff like beef jerky, but not really for dried fruit.
I'm not convinced that both an air fryer and dehydrator will show similar results for fruit. But definitely both an air fryer and dehydrator can work for beef jerky. That being said, the surface area on dehydrators will be significantly lower than a dehydrator for a similar footprint appliance. My Nesco probably has 3-4x more dehydrating space than a 5.6qt air fryer and both appliances are about the same size. For dehydrating purposes, I'd say a 5.6qt air fryer would yield about a small snack sized ziploc. An actual dehydrator of similar size would yield about half to 2/3 of a freezer bag in a single session.