The package should tell you whether or not it has added sugar. But, the whitish "crust" you're talking about is present on a lot of dried fruits without added sugar. It forms as they sit. I'm pretty sure it is just natural sugars crystalizing. Anyway, it is harmless. Of course, mold is a possibility on dried fruit that isn't dry enough and not stored properly. Any I've seen is usually more of a gray to blue to black mold. I think you're perfectly safe. Just my opinion.

I received my Excalibur Dehydrator 9 tray with timer just 2 days ago and I decided to use it today. No fan running. I don't know if t's me but I don't believe the codswollop about how each dehydrator is checked 3 times before being exported. After reading Amazon reviews (I bought mine from a different website), I feel that I have been cheated as I did spend a ridiculous amount of money on this machine and I never even got one try at it. And it's an eye sore!... whhich I was willing to overlook since it has been raved about by raw foodists experts all over the world!

Back to the dehydrator original question - my fav thing to dry is sliced tomatoes. I use them all winter, ground up and with a little water to rehydrate, makes wonderful fresh tasting pasta sauce, pizza sauce, tomato soup, and ketchup by the cup. I also use them as you would "sun-dried" tomatoes. Same thing. Unpeeled little Roma's, Amish Paste, or my fav Principe Borghese heirloom tomatoes have a very rich flavor when dried. They do have to be firm low juice varieties or it takes forever to dehydrate where the sliced paste tomatoes take 8 hours total at 145 at the beginning then down to 135 - 140 for the remaining time. If you do use juicy tomatoes I'd recommend taking out the seeds and letting the juice drip out before putting them in the dehydrator. Another thing I make is vegetable leather. There are many recipes out there. Some I make have all the same ingredients as vegetable soup - add a cup of hot water, stir and stir, and after a while have hot soup. Since I grow organically and don't need all that salt as in commercial soups, I have a good tasting, good for you soup. One very important thing to do with all dehydrated foods is to put them in plastic bags or jars and put them in the freezer for 48 hours. This kills the native bacteria that lives in our air (and any weevils or critter eggs that might be lurking and survived the heating process). Nancy the nancedar

Hey ajsmama, Fancy meeting up with you on the Harvest Forum ;-)) I've done pounds of pepper powder each year for the past four or five years. john__showme__usa is right, it takes more than 4-8 hours to properly dry peppers, especially for subsequent grinding into powders or flakes. In my experience, using home (non-commercial dehydrators), depending on the variety of pepper, 24 - 48 hours drying is the norm. They're dry enough when you can easily snap them. If you are planning to grind them after drying, a little trick to ensure they were properly dried is to fill your jar with powder leaving 1/4 - 1/2 inch head space. Invert jars and let rest for two days. If no condensation forms, you're good to go. FWIW, Bill