Monday, September 10, 2007

Drying Apples

I dried apples from my tree yesterday. Since I don't spray my tree at all - many of the apples have blemishes on them - may not be an apple you want to pick and eat - but you can certainly cut the blemishes off and still have lots to dry. The rest of the apple is fine.

Did you know that if you buy dried apples in the store, most of them are treated with sulphur to keep them a nice white color? Ick - I don't want to eat sulphur and I don't want my kid eating it either. Dried apples make such a tasty treat and they are so easy to do.

First I quarter, core and peel the apples and then I slice them. You can also do rings - but I can get more in my dehydrator sliced. I treat them with Fruit Fresh so they don't turn brown. If you don't want to do that - you can also use lemon juice, but that will make them tarter.

Then arrange them in the dehydrator and let them dry.

Here are the ones I did yesterday:


Here's the apples fresh and ready to go. They can touch - just don't overlap them.


And here are the dried ones - you can see how much they shrunk in size as they dried. They turned a tan color.
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Hi Kathy,
    Curious to hear about what happened to your peach tree...were you able to save it?

    Also, where do you get your boxes that you use for packaging the canned holiday gifts?

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  2. Kathi11:49 AM

    Hi Jen,
    I did post an update on the peach tree right after your comment, but forgot about the other half of your question - sorry.

    I'm cheap - I get them at the dollar store! I figure the real gift is the jelly - but I do try and make them look nice.

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  3. Anonymous2:54 AM

    How do you store your dried apples? I'm contemplating drying apples from my parents antique orchard (believe me you haven't seen blemished apples like these). Anyway, my children love dried apples and I could potentially dry many many bushels, but how to store them? ZipLock bags, Mason jars, vacuum seal... Using the freezer is OUT, as I packed it with anything and everything I could pick from the garden.

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  4. Kathi3:41 AM

    I store my dried apples in jars - just any jars - I save my canning jars for canning - old peanut butter or mayo jars work fine for storing the apples.

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  5. Anonymous5:09 AM

    I was wondering how long of a shelf-life the dried apples have?

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  6. Kathi6:17 AM

    I'm not sure but I think pretty long - we usually eat them up in 6 months or so but I think dried foods last a really long time - years.

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  7. canning tomatoes1:03 AM

    Hi,

    do you also store your dried apples in canning jars? How long will it last?

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  8. Kathi5:09 AM

    I store them in canning jars, old mayo jars - just about anything. Dried apples last a long time - except that they don't because they get eaten! They are such a yummy snack and so easy to take with you. And great to add to oatmeal and other cereal as well.

    ReplyDelete