Been a few post on this in other threads .. but no separate topic so .. my findings.
VarietiesThere are a few of them. The 'honey dew' ones have a very small stone .. so you get more out of them than you would think. I also like the taste - not quite as sweat as the calypso.
SizeI found the smaller cheaper ones got as much flesh per $ are the larger ones .. so I don't think that matters.
Slice thicknessTried 6mm .. took over 12 hours to dry and not as dehydrated as thinker slices.
Think 3mm is about right.
I do take the skin off before slicing - remove one side first and remove the flsh from there before removing all the skin, reduces mucky hands and fruit bruising.
DehydrationSubject to the dehydration machine and local climatic conditions. I use 55 C and 10 hours, the hours are flexible.
Water reduction ratio For 6mm slices 7.29, for 3 mm slices 7.45. That is about 700 grams of wet mango flesh goes to ~100 grams of dehydrated mango flesh. I don't bother rehydrating them, though I have tried it and they do go back up. I prefer to just let them sit in my mouth.
Costs2 large mangoes equal ~4 small mangoes in terms of harvested flesh, and that is ~500 grams worth. Say $7.22 per kilo of harvested flesh when buying individual mangoes. Humm 1 kg wet = ~ 134 g dry so $52.63 per kg of dehydrated mango. The commercial ones are $6 per 150 g so $40 per kg. Conclusion .. buy in trays!
--------------- All the above subject to further experimentation!
(Read: further mango eating.)
Should there more topic posts on individual fruit dehydration? For instance Kiwi Fruit comes in 2 varieties .. the golden ones don't have the acid finish of the greens.