Dried and Bagged

Yes, it did the job! The dehydrator that my daughter gave me for Christmas last year has been put to good use and will work more for me in the next few months for sure!

To see details please click on image to enlarge

Failure

Do you know what this is? Well, it is supposed to be blackberry fruit leather. NOT!

I think I know what error I made. First I washed the blackberries that I picked and then mashed them through a strainer to eliminate the seeds. It yielded 1/2 cup of juice. I warmed it and added 1/2 cup sugar, stirring until completely dissolved.  I then poured it onto the drying sheet in the dehydrator and ran it for nine hours! (Yes, I set it on the correct setting and it was running the entire time.) After it had cooled down, I peeled it off onto a parchment sheet, noticing that it was rubbery and not at all dried and firm. Then I scraped it off of the parchment and put it in a glass jar and re-heated it. I now have jelly. It is delicious but I wanted blackberry fruit leather!

Oh well, today we went to the Farm Market and picked up another cantaloupe, six ears of corn and Sunbright freestone peaches. Maybe I can dry some peach slices successfully with the dehydrator. I'll let you know. Sometimes the old ways of drying fruits work better. This method is new to me.