Especially home designed & built

I don't have any experience with it but have been entertaining the idea of building a solar dehydrator for fruits and vegetables for a few years now. What part of CT are you in John?? maybe we could get together and build a couple...

Jose (Brookfield, Ct)

I'm in Bethany.  Have been looking at some sites like Mother Earth News
at various DIY attempts.   From what I read, temperature control is important
or you cook the fruit.  

Don't need anything too elaborate, but I do use the
solar actuated cold frame vent that opens the door when temp's get too hot.
Also, I'd think that one could do better with some of the modern sheet
insulation - or even just styrofoam - than simply painting the inside of a 
wooden box black.

Glad for any thoughts...    I see loads of food dehydrators on ebay, but
why pay for thousands of watts elec. when the sun still works?

u can try solar pool heating foil.
this is cheap .
i dont know the effect without water

Now that I think about it, maybe the wood stove will be the place to dry figs

But if they start coming in in August - as some folks suggest - wood stove
won't be going yet.  Doesn't sound like too many people are interested about
dried figs......

Place figs on sheets of thick cardboard in the sun.

Cardboard helps to draw moisture out of the figs quicker,
and it increases the total surface area, which speeds up drying.

Air circulation is important as heat.

I dry a lot of fruit, but I do use an electric dehydrator. But years ago before getting a good one, I dried a lot of fruits in the sun. Apricots mainly, but also peaches and tomatoes.

The upside of course is no power usage. The downsides however out-weighed that. For me anyway. The drying process requires the sun being out. If it's cloudy during the day, the fruit just sits there, and if its humid besides, it literally can rot. And of course overnight the drying process is interrupted, and depending on your weather, things can also mold.

Direct sun drying cut fruits is also prone to flies and dust. 'Nuf said. I ended up covering mine with netting, which was a pain since if it was damp at night, I had to bring everything inside. If you don't cut your fruit, it would take a long time to totally dry. Slow-dried fruits don't taste or look as good.

In a solar drier, some of these things would not be a problem, but I think you would still need active air circulation since it would be much warmer inside a solar dehydrator - not necessarily a good thing IMO. And there would still be the problem of the fruit just sitting there and not drying over night and/or if the sun simply was not shining. And if it rained... Oy.

Dired some figs whole (not cut) some years backand roma plum tomatoes (cut with sea salt sprinkle) on plywood board covered with cheesecloth on the patio table in full sun as the flys etc come to visit them during the process.

Forget how long it took in our climate but it was least several days i know of at night they came into the garage.

The plum tomatoes were excellent with a roasted taste to them and great in sandwiches.

Taste tested them along with getting the feel of how dry they were and when i was satisfied they were outstanding , i put them in ziplock baggie's and stored in cabinet .
You do not want to take all the moisture out of them and they will have a sparkle thats the sugar coming thru.  ; )
They lasted for several months before i finished them.

I dried Hardy Chicago and EL.Sals figs.

Gotta tell you they beat any store type i ever bought .

Here is sample of some of the last ones i had left in dated picture taken in middle of January and  compared to store type
first row dried with skin on
second row dried with skin peeled.

Those look yummy Martin.

Hungryjack, Gina  OK that's helpful that air circulation is high on the importance list.

I'm not a purist when it comes to solar etc.  It sounds like a solar dehydrator with a
small fan and perhaps even a small heat source would be a hit.  When there's
sun and breeze, let them work.  When either one is lacking, lets the backup
cut in.

Martin,  many thanks for the pix and notes on both tomatoes and figs; taste is
really what we want to know about, and if the store bought can be equalled from
our own home-grown figs, that's good.  If they are tastier, that's even better.

Thanks everyone; got to think about some simple designs

can u put dried figs in tea?

You can if you like but it doesn't sound too tempting to me.

How are the figs in Israel?  That must be interesting to grow figs in the 
Promised Land!  I suppose they are for sale fresh everywhere?

Hi John
they sell here the same kind everywhere which i think is the sbayi.
they are good and sweet but once i tasted my home grown once i started to think about having my own trees.
commercial product is never the same as home grown one.

The dashboard of your car makes a decent place to dry figs. Just slice thin, put in cardboard box, place screen material on top if bugs are an issue. Can use little solar fan and thermometer if desired. All parts can be used for other things as well this way. Also works on boat if needed.
Critters are not an issue this way.

using a ranco temperature controller to turn on a heating coil when the sun isn't out would work...I think making a solar air heater (look on youtubes for some good designs, or builditsolar.com) that directs it's hot air into a dehydrating box with pullout shelves to lay fruit would work. The ranco controller might also be able to turn on a fan for more ventilation if it gets too hot in the dehydrator box.

Amazing video - where taken?  (sorry I don't read whatever the language was)

Yes   CTFIGS, that's what I'm thinking;  let the sun do the work and let a 
temperature control decide when to lower the heat (fan) or raise it (heat coil)

Is there really that much difference in drying time for whole figs vs. cut ones?

Does the cutting decrease the flavor at all, or the ability to store?

Video is from Bosnia or Croatia. Looks like he use those barrels for sulfur application.