Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Dehydrated Apples


Ok, so anyone who knows me well know that I am a bit into food storage. I also like to do anything I can myself. Not only do I enjoy learning how it's done, but I really think that by doing it at home I can get a superior product and as an added bonus, it's just the way I like it because I control what is being put into it. So, the last couple days I've been working on dehydrating my own apple slices. Everyone loves to snack on these and they are as healthy as can be for you. They are actually kind of addicting... I dare you to eat just one. I also love these broken up and put in my oatmeal. So easy and convenient and it really takes my morning oatmeal to the next level.


 I have one of these handy dandy apple slicers that I used to slice and core all my apples. I left the peels on for added flavor and nutrition, but you could take the peel off if you want to. You don't have to use one of those if you don't have one. Just core and slice your apples thinly by hand. They will still turn out just as good! I usually slice and core about four at a time and then cut them in half. After that I lightly spray them with lemon juice (I bought a spray bottle just for this use) so they don't brown and it adds a little extra vitamin C back into them that they will lose during the dehydrating. Then I lay them out on my dehydrator tray. Once I have a tray full I sprinkled very lightly with cinnamon. You don't need much at all to give it a little extra flavor. I think apple pie seasoning would be great on these too, but I didn't have any on hand. You can really do whatever YOU like on your dried apples. That's the great thing about doing it at home.  I only sprinkled a few of my trays with cinnamon because I like them both ways and it's one less step to just leave it off. I set my dehydrator at 110 degrees and it took them about 15 hours to get dried enough.


My house smelled fantastic as these were drying and the kids kept asking what the yummy smell was.  I like doing these types of projects in the winter when there isn't a whole lot of produce on sale, not any produce stands around anymore, and my garden isn't keeping me on my toes with fresh veggies.

These really are simple as can be to make yourself. Next time you see apples on sale (I used fuji here, but you can use any apple you like to eat), grab more than you normally would and put some in your dehydrator. I think you'll be surprised at how easy and good it really is made at home.

3 comments:

Kara Henry said...

YUM! I want some. Mom was making these the other day when I was there and besides sneezing because of the sprinkling cinnamon I was thoroughly enchanted by the smell and it made me crave dried apples.

Elizabeth said...

What kind of dehydrator do you have? Does it do fruit leather too? I think it would be fun to be able to make some healthy snacks like that. What else do you make with it??

Melissa said...

Kara, I have a bunch... I'll bring a baggie for you tomorrow. :)

Elizabeth, I have a huge, expensive one, but before I got that one, I had this one: http://www.amazon.com/LEquip-306200-550-Watt-6-Tray-Dehydrator/dp/B00004Z4GQ/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1297457441&sr=8-12 and it worked great! It has fruit leather trays that you can buy for it (so easy to do fruit leather) and I have dried pretty much everything in mine. Any fruit does great... I love drying onions in it for easy use in soups and you can dry pretty much any veggie (not potatoes) in it too. With my big one I make my own beef jerky which is way better than the stuff you get in the store. Would you be interested in more specific recipes of what I make in mine?

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