My dad recently got a food dehydrator and started making jerky. Last time I visited he gave me some jerky made out of ground sirloin. It very quickly dissapeared.

Does anyone here have a dehydrator? If so, what do you have, and do you find that you use it often? Any favorite things to make?

I have one made by Harvest Maid (I think). Had it about 10 years now. Just use it for jerky.

I have a cheapie food dehydrator I picked up at WalMart ages ago....I use it to dehydrate chile and other stuff for backpacking trips. If you're into minimalist camping, a dehydrator is a must-have. There are a couple good cookbooks for this kind of stuff; if anyone's interested I'll post the author/title info.

Hamburger jerkey....Huuuummmmmm!

I tried done fruit a few times.

The problems is that I eat it faster than i can make it.

I've got a cheapy sold by Harbor Freight, if I remember, for $20. You don't need anything fancy. Your oven on very low heat will work too. I used to make homemade yogurt with it. If you like storebought fruit flavored yogurt, you may like homebrewed plain yogurt as well. It tastes nothing like the sour "plain" sold in stores.

There are probably tons of jerky recipes on the net but I've heard the key to making jerky is to trim off all the fat.

Also tried making banana chips too but they came out like flavorless chewy leather.

I don't have one myself, but my brother does.  He makes deer jerky that is out of this world.  Can't get enough of that stuff.  He uses the heck out of it every deer season.  I think that's all he uses it for.