I have had the 5 shelf Excalibur for over 20 years. I tried one of those round types when I picked up a brand new one, still in box at the SalVal for 5.00. To compare the 2 is like comparing apples to oranges. It depends on what you will be using the dehydrator for. I use the Excalibur for drying crafts as well as foods, so I need one that has the features the Excalibur offers. Such as yesterday, I made soap and dried the bars in the dehydrator. With the Excalibur you can use all the trays , some trays or remove them all for taller applications like raising bread or making yogurt and you cannot do that in round models, or at least the one I picked up cheap. If a part gets broken I can order replacements and the cheaper ones don't have a 10 year warranty. I saw on the Excalibur site the Economy 4 tray is one sale and lower priced than the Nesco Pro right now. I found that in the round types ones the food trays lower dried faster and you were constantly moving tray for even drying, you don't need to do that in the Excalibur. Dehydrated green beans with ham and potatoes is awesome. Dried strawberries are intense, and I always make a big batch of dried soup veggies , as those mixes are so pricy to buy. Both manufacturers have recipes/ideas on their websites, maybe those can help you decide.

I agree with vic01. Freezing is the way to go if you have the freezer space. If you don't, canning is the next best thing. Freezing does affect the texture and makes peppers somewhat mushy, but doesn't affect the taste like canning does. If you are using the frozen chiles in cooking, you shouldn't notice much difference. Canning gives them a vinegary taste, and in my opinion, leaches out a lot of the heat and flavor of the chile. For NM chiles, I roast, then freeze. Peel as you use them. Much better than canned green chile. Jalapenos and Serranos are washed whole, then put in a freezer bag and frozen. Of course, if you let the chiles ripen to red, you can simply dry them (if your climate allows) or dehydrate them and put in a ziplock bag. Keep in a cool and dry place, and they will last virtually forever. When ready to use, snip off the calix and empty the seeds, then throw the pods into boiling water for about 8 minutes to rehydrate. Depending on the thickeness of the skin, you may want to peel or run through a food mill. Dried/rehydrated chiles taste just like fresh.

One day, as i was leaving Simonian Farms (where 5 out of 4 Fresnans shop), I stopped to talk to a lady just going in. She was hoping they still had Boysenberries... she just wanted to bake a pie in the worst way. She gave me her recipe right there on the spot and it is a good one: Boysenberry Pie Faye Tolbert, Corcoran, CA 1 unbaked pie shell 1 to 1-1/2 pounds fresh or frozen Boysenberries 1/2 cup flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 to 1 cup water Use enough berries to generously fill the pie shell. Mix flour and sugar together; pour over berries. Add enough water to come up to 1/3rd the inside of the pie shell. Add top crust, crimping all around. Make vent in top crust. Bake at 350-375 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour - until juice appears thick.

Deanna, I thought about straining out the juice, but if I had made the jam from the unfrozen fruit, it would have had the juice and I'm concerned that not using it would take away too much of the fruit's flavor. It doesn't take that much more boiling time to reduce the juice. It's the same juice that would be drawn out of the fruit by the sugar when you macerate it. I have thought about perhaps straining the juice and reducing it a bit then adding it back into the solids when making something like a pie or crisp to keep the crust from getting soaked from the already liberated juice and to keep the solid pieces from getting overcooked.