@Julia M. Usher posted:I don't even put mine IN the dehydrator; I put them IN FRONT of it for about an hour - sometimes less, sometimes more per the notes below. IN the dehydrator for an hour could be way too long from some things. Remember, there's no one exact perfect time, as drying time is a function of many things: (1) what you are trying to achieve (i.e., fully dry all the way through or just enough to create a shell on the icing to move onto the next decorating step); (2) how loose the icing was to start; (3) how big a patch of icing you're trying to dry; (4) how accurate the temperature gauge is on your device; (5) how your dehydrator is configured (mine is side-loading with the fan/heat source at the back so all trays heat relatively uniformly; yours looks to be top-loading so the pieces closest to the heat source, which I assume is at the bottom, are going to dry faster); etc.
Again, my best recommendation (as with everything) is to start doing some controlled experiments to figure out what works best for your application and with your particular equipment. I rarely dry the icing all the way through; just enough to make sure the top layer is set and stable and unlikely to sink when moved away from the dehydrator.
Wow! Thanks so much, Julia. You sure are awesome to always take so much time to write such detailed and helpful responses. It is obvious that you always want to cover all of the bases and share as much of your knowledge as possible. This has not escaped me and I just want you to know how grateful I am. So much to consider here and I will refer back to this thread if I continue to run into problems.
Thanks again. ❤️