Dehydrating with “ the sunny windshield technique ”

Hello there ! Since i did not find a post on the dehydrating method under a windshield, wich is mentionned in BB sand badge  Food dehydratation, i make one here !

I tried it and it's a success. Just not to forget to let at least a crack in the windows, of full open. When possible, i turn my car 2-3 times during the day to follow the sun, if not i tried to place food mostly south facing. I didn't have metal pan, so i used aluminium tart tins found in the recycled bins. Best result with only 1 level of food and if possible to turn of shake it a little. In 3-4 days the fruits were very dry !


https://www.littleecofootprints.com/2011/02/drying-dehydrating-food-fruit-car.html
https://thetanglednest.com/2009/08/drying-food-in-car/

I tried this at the very end of last summer and found that I couldn't get the conditions steady enough. After four days, my fruit was dry and leathery, but also molding and I had to compost it. For the BB you mentioned, I ended up using a solar stove without all the effort to concentrate the heat. I have no doubt it can be made to work, but I wasn't getting enough sun.

I have posted somewhere here on the forum that I have used that method with great success, for tomatoes.

The thing about why it worked for me is it is really hot in Texas so things dehydrate fast.

It also helps to keep turning over the item you are dehydrating often.

I've actually done it only with small size fruit with less water like alpine strawberry, goji, honeyberries, etc. Bigger fruits full of water like normal size strawberries and rasberries didn't work well... Maybee with a better ventilation or smaller bits it would have been ok.. who knows! My experiment is stopping there, I had sell my car last month to go carless, so solar dehydrator build is on the table for next year !

Raphaël Blais wrote:Hello there ! Since i did not find a post on the dehydrating method under a windshield, wich is mentionned in BB sand badge  Food dehydratation, i make one here !

I tried it and it's a success. Just not to forget to let at least a crack in the windows, of full open. When possible, i turn my car 2-3 times during the day to follow the sun, if not i tried to place food mostly south facing. I didn't have metal pan, so i used aluminium tart tins found in the recycled bins. Best result with only 1 level of food and if possible to turn of shake it a little. In 3-4 days the fruits were very dry !


https://www.littleecofootprints.com/2011/02/drying-dehydrating-food-fruit-car.html
https://thetanglednest.com/2009/08/drying-food-in-car/

I live just outside of Death Valley, and do this all the time! I use cookie sheets and load up the dashboard.. haha!

I don't think direct sun is good for the nutritional value of foods.
So maybe think of a way to keep the sunshine off the food.
Maybe a sheet of black aluminum.

I do use this method for mushrooms,..
which increase vitamin D with exposure to sunshine.