Sunday, September 23, 2012

Apple Surprise!

Whenever I pull the apples out of the oven early, they always seem to revert back to a soggy state.  Today was a pleasant exception to the rule!


I went into the other room to get the racks of apples in the early stages of drying, and to my utter shock, they had finished drying to a nice crisp.  I quickly threw everything in jars and vacuum sealed them shut so humidity wouldn't have a chance to turn them soggy.  So far this season, which just opened three weeks ago, I've put up 7 quarts of dry apples.  These make for GREAT snacks!

Time to hit the orchard for some more goodies.    :)

Happy Eats!

UPDATE:  I've found several hours in the oven (overnight is good) at 170 degrees with the door closed, then removing the racks and placing the apples in front of a small fan seems to finish off the job.  I tried it again today since it was a low humidity day, and sure as the sun shines, the apples crisped right up and became crunchy chips that snapped, not bent.  I've finished up the bushel with 9 quart jars, and that doesn't include some that were lost along the way to eating, a few that went bad, and some that were cooked.

Fred and I are still pondering the way to design a large capacity dehydrating cabinet so we can make the best of the fruit seasons when they come along.  It also would allow us to peel and slice a bushel at a time (hopefully!) which would seriously speed things up.  Right now, a bushel takes three rounds of drying in the oven, which is slow going.  I'd rather toss everything into a cabinet at once and check the cabinet in a day or two. 

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