Another Borner V-slicer owner. I bought a very slightly used one off eBay for a good savings and then, about a year later, found one at a garage sale for a couple of bucks, so I bought that one also. Backup in case anything breaks. What I don't like about the V-slicer is that slicing is confined to predetermined thicknesses (controlled by inserts.) There is no fine-tuning, dial adjustablility. To be truthful, I've only owned one for a couple of years & have only attempted slicing. Haven't explored julienning, etc. As far as slicing, I have problems keeping the veggies situated to get perfect 90 degree cuts. About halfway thru a cuke, I'm getting angled cuts. Also, I've not used it nearly as much as I thought I would...but have found that it earns its keep during harvest season just for making cucumber slices for hamburger dills. Another thing is that my kitchen is dreadful so I have mostly avoided any cooking with much degree of complication. Once I have a somewhat functional kitchen, I'll no doubt have more creativity but suspect that I'll want to upgrade to a mandoline that has more user control. Attaching a link w/ some reviews of various inexpensive mandolines... Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Audition (Inexpensive)Mandoline Reviews

plllog- It sounds like you are describing freeze-dried food, which unfortunately, CAN'T be duplicated in a dehydrator. Freeze-drying is a commercial technique that forms a vacuum while the food is freezing. Stored properly, freeze-dried food has a much longer shelf-life than home-dehydrated, and freeze-dried foods are much higher in nutrients than those made at home, and freeze-dried foods rehydrate in a fraction of the time as home-dried foods. I store and use both home-dehydrated and freeze-dried. jennieboyer, Home\-dehydrated foods need to be used fairly quickly because they don't have any preservatives, and the nutrients degrade quickly \- even if they still "look" fine, and may even taste fine, after years on your shelves. Recommended storage times for home\-dried foods range from 4\-months to one year because the quality is affected by oxygen, temperature, and light. Most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60\-degrees F, or six months at 80\-degrees F. (room temperature is considered 70\-degrees F.). The cooler the storage temperature, the longer the shelf\-life, and this is true for all stored foods. For each 10\-degrees above room temperature (70\-degrees F) the faster food degrades (nutrients are lost, color and texture may change). Because home\-dehydrated vegetables don't have as much natural (or added) sugar as fruit does, vegetables have about half the shelf\-life of fruits. I consider home\-dehydrated foods pantry foods which need to be rotated and used quickly. Unless you are 100% sure a home\-dehydrated food has 10% moisture or less, don't vacuum\-seal it because if any bacteria is present, it could potentially grow into a toxin \- even in the oxygen\-free container. In order to know the amount of moisture, you have to weigh the food before and after dehydrating. For more specific information on the subject, I suggest getting the book "How To Dry Foods" by Deanna DeLong. You can often find this book at the library and used book stores. As a general rule fruits dried at home normally have about 80% of their moisture removed and vegetables \- 90%. Only a small percentage of foods dehydrated are done until they are crispy dry. I do crispy apples for snacks (which store longer), and leathery apples for cooking/baking, which get used quickly. In my case, unless the dehydrated food is being used, they are stored in a dark, cool, food storage room in the basement. I always try to store enough apple slices for a year, but that's the only item I plan on doing that. Even foods that seem bone dry can still have some moisture in it. Each time you open a container of dehydrated foods, it will reabsorb moisture from the air, so make sure you don't leave the lid off a container any longer than needed, and use more small containers (pint and quart jars). The same problem of reabsorption occurs after the dehydrated food is done drying. Once the food is dry, allow it to come to room temperature, then place it in a container/s and be sure to condition it (an important step many people skip and find they have moldy food) before placing it in storage. If you pack warm food into a jar, moisture will continue to be expelled from the warm food and can be trapped in the jar, causing the food to mold. I would avoid using a timed dehydrator because it is possible for the food to sit for a long period of time after the timer has gone off, and it will most certainly have reabsorbed a lot of moisture, especially in a place where there is high humidity. I typically don't store home\-dried foods in large batches \- especially potatoes which are notorious for molding. Crispy apples destined for snacking I place in a snack\-size zip\-lock bag, then place the bags of apple slices in a quart jar. This way each time the jar is opened there is less chance any of the apple slices will reabsorb moisture from the air. There is an alternative method called dehydrofreezing where only about 70% of the moisture is removed, however, these foods MUST be stored in the freezer to prevent microbial growth. There are some advantages to dehydrofreezing \- the food has better flavor and color than traditional drying, and they reconstitute in about half the time it takes for traditionally dried foods. They also take up less space in the freezer than fresh\-frozen food. If you don't have plastic fruit leather sheets you can use plastic wrap to cover the trays, or you could try a produce bag with some cutting required to make it cover the round trays (both will require some over\-lapping). Caution \-\-\- do NOT place the food on the printed side of the bags because the ink is NOT food\-grade. I will also bet once you use a plastic bag or plastic wrap for this process, you will find the stiff plastic fruit leather sheets much easier to use and well worth the money. \-Grainlady

I had a cheap one that I got at a yard sale for a couple of bucks, it didn't have a pusher or a guard. Elery had a nice OXO, so he gave that one to me. Can't manage to work the thing without driving myself nuts. The non-skid feet slip on the counter, the pusher won't hold the food and it's a PIA to clean. Back to the knife for me, the food processor will slice just fine, as does the KitchenAid attachment that Beachlily sent me when I was working on all the wedding food, but it's easier and faster to just grab a knife most of the time. Annie

I can't speak to the dehydrating (I'm here for the learning), but I do know slicers! I have a very very expensive DeBuyer mandoline, with infinite settings, via crank, which was a present. Actually, it's a V-slicer, which helps prevent squishing. It has a huge pusher and a side handle, so if operated correctly there's no cutting of the fingers. The pusher has a stiff spring in it, so there's really very little that doesn't go through the blade. Probably a quarter inch on an apple with the skin on. It is fantastic for large scale processing. Better than FP, which is limited by the bowl size. Better than by hand, because of speed. If you're going to do a LOT of slicing, it's worth the investment. I haven't used the latest models of OXO. They make reasonably priced real mandolines and their design is usually good. I can't speak to the guard, however. I haven't used any Zyliss, but they look well designed and are moderately priced. It might be worth going somewhere like Bed, Bath & Beyond and giving them a good looking over. For smaller tasks, I use a Kyocera paddle mandoline. It has cutouts in the sides so that it can sit securely on a bowl, or you can just hold it over a cutting board or platter. It would be fine for slicing half a dozen apples, but could get tiresome for more. There is a size limit. The fruit has to fit between the side ridges. The pusher, however, is a flat, nylon thing, with nylon spikes. It doesn't attach to the fruit. You have to hold it with the pressure from your hand, but it works very well with no waste. I've never been cut, but, especially in a busy house where you can be startled, a cutproof glove would be a good idea. This one is inexpensive and very useful. And goes in the dishwasher, which is a boon (the OXO might as well--I don't remember). Regarding apple slicers, the corer/wedger that Grainlady just mentioned is an excellent tool. If your apple is a little wonky, you can kind of wiggle and adjust, and I find it works better than an old fashioned corer, especially on larger apples. It is possible to slice through the edge of the core, however, so until you learn how to feel if it's askew, and even after if there's a wide spot in the core, which you may want to clean up from the wedges with a paring knife. The quintessential apple corer, parer, slicer is a whizbang delight if you have an apple orchard and have to process bushel after bushel after bushel of apples. For the average homemaker, not so much. It takes an awful lot of flesh off with the peel (not such a big deal if you're making the apple jelly), and only works well on symmetrical apples. However, doesn't yours have an adjustment for the slicing knife? Maybe some don't. One of the advantages of these, with adjustable knife, is that it can slice really thin! Like an eighth of an inch. I hope the dehydrating goes well. Keep looking, and you'll find a mandoline that suits you.