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"

New to Me

I have not ever had a dehydrator before this year and it is a trial and error thing for me to try several projects. The first, wild blackberry leather failed. I just didn't have enough pulp and it was all juice after straining. It ended up being tasty jelly and has already disappeared.  The next project was dried peach slices. They came out great but the drying took longer than the manual said it would. Then my peach leather project was perfect! Now I have tomato slices filling all four trays and expect it to be a 12 hour process. I have plans to use these, don't worry!

The best part is that these tomatoes are the Oxhearts from which I saved the seeds from last year. My PA daughter started the seedlings and grew a few this spring.  She took some to my NJ daughter who grew great ones this year. PA daughter brought four beauties back to me from NJ daughter after vacationing together at the NJ beach last week. Whew! We had a great tomato to eat, I'm currently dehydrating three and saving seeds for next year. (I do ramble on, don't I?)  Don't forget to click on image to view larger and you will soon ask for some seeds for yourself to plant next year.

Bottom Tray 1

Tray 2

Tray 3

Top Tray

Saved seeds as I sliced

They will ferment for about a week

After fermenting they will be strained and dried