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How Much Fruit
Fills A Dehydrator?

Deciding how much fruit fills a dehydrator is not an exact science. It obviously depends on what size dehydrator you have.

We created this guide to help make that decision easier for you. It helps to have a rough idea how much fruit to purchase at the store!

This is what you need to buy to fill Four full dehydrator trays

An Easy Guide for Fruit
so you'll know how much fruit
fills a dehydrator!

This helps if you cannot afford to buy in bulk, and can only buy fruit on a weekly basis. May be time to start growing your own, you say? :-)

Most of us do not have tons of spare room in our fridges and freezers. Before you go out buying too much, here's a handy guide that shows how much fruit will fit on four dehydrator trays. Please remember this is just a guide. It's not an exact science...

The reason why I picked how much fruit does it take to fill four full trays is this: FOUR trays are the Nesco Dehydrator brand's recommended minimum tray usage.

If you use any less than four full trays, for instance, only two trays, then you are not getting the proper air circulation necessary to dry your fruits properly.

About Dehydrator Non-Stick Sheets

Read more about Nesco dehydrators here. They have plenty of great accessories, such as spare trays (I purchased the four-tray starter Nesco); non-stick sheets which are great for making fruit leathers. The non-stick sheets are also great for stopping smaller pieces of food from dropping down into the tray below. When food dries, shrinkage occurs.

Excalibur dehydrators also have the non-stick sheets for the same purpose as Nesco.

Guide to How Much Fruit
Fills FOUR Trays

• Apples: fresh, 3-4 medium
• Apricots: fresh, 5 whole per tray (20 total); frozen, 2lb bag
• Bananas: fresh, 6-8 medium to large
• Berries: fresh or frozen, 2lb
• Cherries: fresh or frozen, 2lb
• Grapes: fresh, 1lb if cut in half; 2lb if left whole
• Citrus: 4-5 medium oranges,
  7-8 lemons or limes
• Melon: 2lbs diced
• Peaches: fresh, 4 whole if slicing; 16 whole if halving—but please note: you may have to use an Excalibur machine which has the ability to remove alternate trays to allow for the height of the peach, so that would drop the quantity down to 8 and two trays; frozen, 2lb
• Pears: fresh, 4-6 whole pears; frozen, 2lb
• Plums: fresh, 24-28 whole, sliced in half—but please note: you may have to use an Excalibur machine which has the ability to remove alternate trays to allow for the height of the plums, so that would drop the quantity down to 12-14 and two trays; frozen, 2lb
• Rhubarb: fresh, 2lbs sliced into 1" chunks
• Strawberries: fresh, 1-1/2 to 2lbs; frozen, 2lbs

Nesco and Excalibur Brands
Are Super Dehydrators

As mentioned in the dehydrator section, I do have an Excalibur dehydrator and a Nesco dehydrator.
I use the Nesco on a daily/weekly basis, and the Excalibur is great for proofing bread!

If you wish to learn more, tune in to Susan's free Podcast: "What's the Difference Between Nesco and Excalibur Dehydrators" HERE.

Susan Gast began Easy Food Dehydrating in December 2010. Read Susan's story of what sparked her interest in all things related to "food dehydrating."

She is featured on Mother Earth News blog, and on Solo Build It (SBI) who host this site. Read her first SBI interview, and her second SBI interview.

Since 1980, Susan's involvement in publishing - in one form or another - led her to create a "review site" of products related to the publishing industry. Visit ePubTechReviews today, also hosted by Solo Build It. Susan also runs her namesake site SusanGast.com on Solo Build It that showcases the books she has written since 2010.

Do you want to send Susan a quick message? Visit her contact page here. She'd love to hear from you!

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