Hi, John!

The reason you've heard so many different figures about enzyme death is
that it's not such a simple equation. --- at "x" temperature the enzymes
live, at "x+1" they die.  You can assume that at any temperature that
would produce a high, scary fever in a person, the enzymes will begin to
suffer --- like 105-108.  But they don't all die at once.  Killing
enzymes is both a function of temperature and time.  Exposing enzymes to
110 for several hours might be worse than exposing them for 10 seconds at
120 or 130.  See what I mean?

Of course, it also depends on how accurate the temperature gauge is on
your dehydrator.  I haven't got into drying yet, but if I did, I would
try to find the lowest setting that would do the job, preferably under
105.  I'm told that just a good fan blowing room temperature air at your
food is often all you need to dry food.  But again, I have no practical
experience here.

As for your other question, the best book on acid/alkaline issues I've
seen is "Acid & Alkaline" by Herman Aihara, who is a macrobiotics guy,
but I don't hold it against him.  You just have to recognize his biases
and adjust for them when you read the book.

Bob Avery ([log in to unmask])