BioChef Tanami dehydrator review

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How easy is the BioChef Tanami dehydrator to use?

The Tanami dehydrator is easy to set up. It’s clear to see where the trays fit and they slot into place with ease. The magnet in the door isn’t too strong either, a light pull is all that’s needed to open it.

The window in the door is large and clear, making it easy to check the progress of your food without having to stop the dehydrating process.

This is the only model we’ve tested with touchscreen controls. While this modern addition is in keeping with the design, we found the buttons far too sensitive. Each time we set the temperature and timer, they would speedily increase, so a light touch is needed when setting the Tanami up. That being said, the controls are clear and intuitive, which is a real plus.

This model ranges in temperature from 35-70C and runs for up to 72 hours. It automatically shuts off once the timer has finished.

For easy clean up, the stainless-steel trays are dishwasher safe and fit comfortably in a standard dishwasher.

Results

Across all of our tests, the Tanami dehydrator produced consistently brilliant results. A little guesswork was needed for a number of the tests, as the manual is quite vague. For example, there are suggested thicknesses for some foods, but not all. The number of foods in the manual is quite small too, with just a handful of fruits and vegetables and no information about dehydrating herbs or fruit leather.

In test, we cut both apples and lemons 0.6cm thick. Apples took just seven hours to dry out, they had a pliable texture and – unlike all of the other apple slices we’ve dehydrated – they didn’t brown very much and kept their white interior. Lemons took 13 hours to dry, which is longer than we expected. They had an intense sour lemon flavour and were pliable in the middle. The centre was glassy, but we did notice that the slices were uneven in colour as some had browned slightly.

Our vegetables (tomatoes and mushrooms) were fully dehydrated, leathery and pliable. They were both a little crisp on the outside, but this didn’t affect the flavour. We found that some of our tomato slices stuck to the metal racking, which meant we had to tear them to release them, which wasn’t ideal. They were quick to dry though; mushrooms and tomatoes took five and 10 hours to dry respectively.

There was no information on how long to dry herbs for, so we dried our basil leaves for 24 hours at 35C, which is the time and temperature the other brands we’ve tested recommended. All of the leaves were brittle and had lost their verdant colour as expected. Our fruit leather test was equally successful. It was fast to dry taking just four-and-a-half hours and was pliable with an intense flavour.

Conclusion

Most dehydrators can be big and bulky and, frankly, a bit of an eye-sore if you’re planning on keeping it out on the kitchen counter. But BioChef have done away with that problem with the Tanami dehydrator. Stylish, modern and compact in design, this dehydrator both looks great and performs brilliantly.

Some external reading into dehydrating is required before using this model as the manual is quite basic. It’s great if you’ve used a dehydrator before, but if you’re a newbie you’ll need a little more help. Despite this, it’s quiet and produces great results.

Specifications

Number of trays: six
Temperature range: 35-70C
Time: up to 72 hours
Dishwasher safe trays: yes
Accessories included: N/A
Wattage: 500 watts
Dimensions (cm): H: 29.4 x L: 41.4 x W: 33

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This review was last updated in April 2021. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk