Apple Project Number 1

I'm starting to use some of my wonderful fresh apples of this season with the dehydration of a few. Six apples make a pie. Six apples make an apple crisp. Six apples are drying in four trays and will be bagged in one bag to store until use. I will just have to rehydrate the single bagful to make a treat whenever the mood strikes for "something apple" this winter.

I don't use a corer or peeler contraption. An old sharp steel fruit and vegetable peeler shaves the skin without wasting meat. A large chef's knife quarters the apple, and then a small sharp paring knife cuts out the core. A stiff boning knife cuts the slices evenly. With my help, of course. Yes, it takes time. I have time. I can sit at the table and watch my chosen morning show on TV while "working" and also eating my apple a day, bite by bite. They taste sweet and tart at the same time and are crunchy and juicy. The first picture is of the first tray at the bottom of a stack of four. 

After 9 1/2 hours at 135°F they are totally dry.

No matter which way you look at them, the dried apple pieces are beautiful.

One bag filled. 

picture 1

 picture 2

 picture 3

Please click on image to view larger

Before a daughter sent me the dehydrator as a Christmas gift, the blog below is how I dried apple pieces. I wrote about it on Friday, December 20, 2013. Check out the blog link at the bottom of this post. No matter how it is executed, with careful planning we can have apples all throughout the following year.

link to "old way of drying apples"