>Wally Day asked:
>>is it better to "open" the dehydrator up to get as much airflow as
>possible, or should the airflow be reduced to a minimum?
>
>If the airflow is opened up too much, the air will rush around the heating
>element so fast it will not warm up enough to dry the meat. If the airflow
>is restricted, it will get too hot and cook the meat or worse yet, "cook"
>your dehydrator! It is best to use the  racks and top along with any
baffles
>the manufacturer of your dehydrator recommends.
>You usually will not get ahead by trying to "Out-Engineer" the engineers
who
>designed and built your equipment.


what makes the food to dry is the circulation of air , heating have only the
effect of creating an air flow and to dry out the air.
You can as easely dry food in the cold with an air flow  also
Most of the commercially sold drier are made without any consideration for
drying the food without waisting out the enzymes.( too high temperature)
To obtain a high quality of products it is imperative to dry at atemperature
lower than body temperature . Higher than that and the enzymes are waisted
away  making the product a dead product.
In a dried at low temperature food  the enzymatic activity get suspended for
lack of water but can start again when rehydrated in the mouth liberating
the aromas and flavor of the original food. The color stay untransformed ( a
dry strawberry stay as red as a fresh one , bananas are yellow , apricot
orange etc..)
Engineers are like any other human beings  their studies reflect their
preconceived ideas (that drying fast is better than drying slow, or a dried
product is a dried product ...).
I had to makes my drier because low temperature driers were not available at
the time
jean-claude