This question is asked in every dehydrating class I give. The commercial crispy banana slices have been fried, not dehydrated, and often with added sugars, so you are comparing two entirely different processes.

In order for your home-dehydrated banana slices to be a little more like commercial ones (emphasis on a "little"), use less-than-ripe bananas to start with (less sugars in under-ripe bananas), and cut them about 1/4-inch thick. I have a handy-dandy banana slicer that makes quick work out of slicing bananas for dehydrating (see link below), while keeping the slices an even thickness (an important point for dehydrating).

Dip the slices in pineapple or lime juice and dry to the degree of crispness you want, although "normal" dried bananas are usually chewy and a little sticky. I'd use 125-degrees F for a temperature and make sure you rotate the trays and flip the slices at least once. Too high a dehydrating temperature and you will either cook them, or get a hard shell on the outside and the interior moisture can't escape, and you chance the bananas molding.

Try to keep the small end slices on one tray, or one side of the tray, and do the same with medium and large slices. By keeping like-sizes together, each size will dry in approximately the same time. That way you will find it easier to remove all the smaller slices first, because they should be done first, then the medium-size, and the large-size slices for last.

Even if you get "crispy" banana slices, they will quickly rehydrate from moisture in the air, and get chewy again. I really wouldn't hold out any great hopes of getting dehydrated banana slices to be like fried banana slices.

If you do get a crisp, instead of chewy, finished product, you may find you need to re-crisp your homemade banana slices again after storage. Try leaving them in a single layer on top of wire drying racks that are sitting on top of a rimmed cookie sheet, in your oven with the light on. That will be a dry environment without too much added heat. If that doesn't work, use the lowest temperature on your oven.

Good luck, and be sure to share any successful tips if you discover the "crispy" banana slice secret.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Banana Slicer

I mostly use mine for herbs and beef jerky. So, even though you are asking about fruit, I just want to put a hint out there for beef jerky. I found at Costco, sliced beef for fondues. It is sliced so thin it is perfect for beef jerky. I don't use the mixes for beef jerky as there are a lot of recipes online.

Many thanks for your super quick responses!

- AM

AM, I have an Excalibur, it's a great machine.

I use mine for jerky, for dehydrating garlic, chopped onions and herbs, for apple slices, for making "gummy worms" out of zucchini. I dehydrate zucchini for soup too, and Elery dries a lot of hot peppers. We used a mix of dried peppers and herbs and made our own chili powder this year and if I get a bunch of morel mushrooms or even find mushrooms on sale, I'll stick them into the dehydrator to keep on hand. I threw some morels into the food processor after they were dried, ground them to powder and added salt for a "morel salt". It added a nice flavor when I didn't really have enough mushrooms to make anything else.

I've not been happy with a couple of items. Like you, I've found that bananas just stay chewy and sticky and no one in my family will eat them, the consistency is just bad. I've dried tomatoes for tomato powder but they never seem to get crisp enough to powder. If I put them in the food processor and "powder" them, they just solidify into one giant brick. Ugh. A waste of time and product for me. Dried watermelon wasn't exactly my best idea either, LOL.

The kids love this "zucchini candy", though, and no one ever knows that it's zucchini. I got the recipe from Linda Lou at Harvest and it's not exactly healthy with sugar and koolaid, but it's probably better than gummy worms.

BASIC ZUCCHINI CANDY FRUIT

10 cups peeled diced zucchini 1/2 inch cubes or "worms"
3 cups water
2 pkgs. unsweetened Koolaid
2 1/2 cups sugar

Peel zucchini,cut in half, removing seeds. Dice in cubes.
Mix the liquid syrup together. Add zucchini. Bring to
a boil and them simmer for 25 min. Drain. Put on dehydrator trays. Dry 14 hours at 125 degrees. Turn pieces over and dry another 4 hours. This will feel dry and not sticky when done. Store in jars or other tightly sealed
containers.If you dip in sugar when you turn them, they will be more like "gum drops" on the outside.

PINEAPPLE CANDY FRUIT

You can do the same thing with the zucchini but use :

48 oz. pineapple juice
2 T. pineapple extract
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

BLUEBERRY CANDY FRUIT

10 cups peeled, cut zucchini, about 1/2 inch cubes
1 -16 oz. can wild blueberries ( mashed and strained through cheese cloth)
1 qt. fresh blueberries ( mashed and strained through cheese cloth)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice ( optional)

Follow the directions for basic recipe.

HINTS: When turning your zucchini, dip in sugar to coat them, making them more like "gumdrops".

Or you could make fruit leather, kids always seem to like those.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 19:23

Dehydrated canned pineapple tidbits went over well when the kid was small. She liked dried ripe banana slices, too. We tried all kinds of pretreatments including rolling in jello and decided they tasted best plain. I think she stopped liking them so much when one of her friends told her they were ugly, lol.

I don't have good luck with tomato powder either, Annie. I dry tomato paste leather. Last year the tomatoes were so sugary I couldn't pry the plops off the sheets, so I scraped them off and rolled into 1-2 tbsp. balls. Tomato bombs.

Katie, I'm glad it isn't just me, other keep saying what a wonderful idea it is to dehydrate tomatoes and make powder. I left the slices in the dehydrator for 40 hours (!) and they still didn't "powder", they just got chewier. (sigh)

So how did you keep the "tomato balls"? In the freezer or do they store at room temperature? I'd try tomato leather, I've done OK with apricot leather. The only problem with fruit leather is that people eat it as fast as I can dry it. I also learned not to use parchment paper, I can never peel the fruit leather off it. I resorted to plastic wrap, finally.

Annie

I also have an Excalibur.

I managed to make all kinds of fruit leathers, crispy chips and powder.

Crispy banana chips, watermelon chip, mango chips, tomato chips -------.

Tomato powder, watermelon powder, mango powder, ------

I generally puree fruit first, no seeds, and no skin, pure fruit pulp. With the dehydrator set to the hottest setting and about 24 hours. Also if it is too humid outside it will take forever.

I use regular thin plastic vegetable bags to line the trays, interestingly, they are non-stick, the leather comes right off.

dcarch

Usually I just spread a couple of tbsp. into a 3" or so circle, dry them and stack in a widemouth jar (and vacuum seal w/ foodsaver if I have a ton). These were so sticky i stuck them in the freezer. Tried doing powder many ways. It's fine for awhile, but loses color and flavor faster than I use it. And there's the brick factor...

It's the first time I've had a hard time peeling them off the fruit leather sheets. Guess I'll line the liners next year.

We got the kids an Excalibur for Christmas. A bit jealous, but when my 25+ yo what-is-now-a-Nesco died, I looked at my huge stack of round racks, berry screens and fruit leather trays and replaced my base. Nothing like the original machine, but it works.