Food-Drying Calculators & Tools
Free, practical calculators for jerky, dried fruit, and herbs — time a batch, dial in a temperature, estimate water activity, rehydrate dried food, and plan a bigger batch.
Drying Time Calculator
Choose a fruit, vegetable, mushroom or herb, enter slice thickness and dehydrator temperature, and get a planning range of hours; the doneness test decides when it is done.
Dehydrator Temperature Guide
See the tested dehydrator temperature for fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in °F and °C, quoted from NCHFP and extension guides, and check a planned temperature against it.
Water Activity Estimator
Estimate the water activity of a salt/sugar brine or marinade from its water, salt, and sugar content, using the ideal-solution mole-fraction approximation.
Rehydration Ratio Calculator
Convert between a dried weight and its rehydrated yield in either direction, using typical rehydration ratios for beans, fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs.
Batch Yield Estimator
Project the dried-weight range a batch will produce from its fresh weight, using typical yield-percent ranges by food type, and estimate how many trays you'll need.
Food Drying Reference
Tested dehydrator temperature, drying time and batch yield for fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in one table, computed by this site's own tools