If you're like me, I'm sure at some point you've asked yourself if you needed a dehydrator. Years ago they were very popular and to be completely honest, I bought one and used it only a couple of times. Because we were moving all the time from province to province, I eventually decided to give it to someone. Did I regret my decision over the years? Maybe a few times. Having said that, I recently received a Hamilton Beach Food Dehydrator and that completely changed my mind. My first impression was that this model looked much nicer than my old dehydrator. Because we love to eat healthy, I have been buying Terra Chips instead of chips for my evening snacks. They're really good but also pricey, so I only buy a bag every once in a while. It will come at no surprise to you that the first time I used my dehydrator I tried to make Sweet Potatoes. Actually, I wanted to dehydrate Taro or Yuca but could not find them in any of the three stores I usually shop at. I might have to go to an ethnic grocery store in town to find them.

Dehydrating sweet potatoes is so easy! All you have to do is peel them, wash them well and, using a mandoline, slice them really thin. Then brush a thin layer of olive oil on top of them and add a bit of salt. You have to place them one by one on the five stackable drying trays and make sure they don't overlap on top of each other. The cool thing about this dehydrator is that I can set the temperature using the digital thermostat and there's a timer with auto shutoff. Don't be surprised to hear a sound from the fan. It takes about 7 to 10 hours to dehydrate sweet potatoes at 145F. You want to make sure they are crunchy. Then you can store them in an airtight container or eat them right away with a greek yogurt dip. So yummy!

Hopefully I will be able to find Taro because I can't wait to try another kind of vegetable in my new dehydrator. I can now make my own vegetable chips mix. I might also try parsnip and beets also. For the jerky lovers the dehydrator comes with recipes you can try. You can experiment with flavours and you will save a lot of money! Bring them on your fishing, canoeing, hiking, or camping trips. Did you know that you can also make bread dough rise in the dehydrator? I can't wait to try it. Why not dehydrate flowers or fruits? In the box there's a fine mesh sheet for drying small foods like herbs and there's one solid sheet for making fruit rolls. I'm so excited to try dehydrating all kinds of fruits and veggies!

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