The Solar Food Dryer: How to Make and Use Your Own Low-Cost, High Performance, Sun-Powered Food Dehydrator

Mother Earth News Wiser Living

by Eben V. Fodor

The Solar Food Dryer describes how to use solar energy to dry your food instead of costly electricity. With your own solar-powered food dryer, you can quickly and efficiently dry all your extra garden veggies, fruits, and herbs to preserve their goodness all year long—with free sunshine! Applicable to a wide geography—wherever gardens grow—this well-illustrated book • Complete step-by-step plans for building a high-performance, low-cost solar food dryer from readily available materials
• Solar energy design concepts
• Food drying tips and recipes
• Resources, references, solar charts, and more Eben Fodor is an organic gardener with a background in solar energy and engineering. He works as a community planning consultant in Eugene, Oregon.

Genres: Food Preservation, Nonfiction, Gardening, Green, Cooking, Food, Cookbooks

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Saifuzzaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

**A Practical Guide to Solar Food Dehydration**

*The Solar Food Dryer* is an excellent resource for anyone interested in preserving food naturally and making better use of solar energy. I really enjoyed how the book combines practical information with an approachable explanation of how solar food drying works.

The instructions and guidance make the idea of building and using a sun-powered food dehydrator feel much more accessible. It is especially appealing for readers who enjoy self-sufficiency, traditional food preservation, gardening, or finding sustainable alternatives for everyday living.

What stood out to me most was the focus on creating an effective, high-performance dryer rather than simply describing the concept. The book encourages readers to understand the process and make the most of an abundant natural resource—the sun.

Overall, this is a useful and inspiring book for anyone who wants to explore food dehydration, reduce waste, preserve seasonal produce, and become more self-reliant. A great addition to a homesteading or sustainable-living library, and an enjoyable read for anyone curious about practical solar technology.

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a time when I thought I would start dehydrating food, so it would keep, but our food gardening was a disaster. I will stick to flowers. Another family member has taken ideas from the book, but neither of us is building the sun-powered food dehydrator. The recipes are great, along with the glossary. I would have like to have seen a color picture of the finished product along with other pictures.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that my husband has all these fancy saws, I am going to ask him to build me the Solar Food Dryer the author recomends. This book is not only a great resource for how to dry food, but how to use solar energy in general. It is actually quite technical.

[Adrienna]

Interesting book for those who are interested in this method for eating their foods. He is also a graduate from UW (University of Wisconsin) like I am, but I have a food dehydrator and this system is not for me at this current time.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compact little book about how to do just what the title says. Fairly good instructions and it also include recipes. A bit of it is available on Google Books if you Google the title.

[Sheri Bauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative, on topic. I'm not sure that this is the one for me.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you can foods...this is for you. Another way to store the foods you grow.