Why dehydrate?

This year, has certainly been a phenomenal one for apples.  In the interest of preserving as much food as possible, as quickly and safely as posssible, we are dehydrating or saucing most of our apples.  Second only to the dutch oven, the dehydrator is one of my favorite kitchen tools. 

This model from Nesco probably cost around $85 (it was a gift).  The gift was actually given to us jointly with another friend (there really is no need for every single household to own a dehydrator, as most of the year, you don't need it).  Dehydrators also come in a box shape but I haven't tried those.  Do get one with the fan on the top though, as they are much easier to clean (if the fan is on the bottom, all the little pieces of food that fall through the cracks in the trays get caught there). You can always buy additional trays, although I wouldn't suggest working with more than a stack of 8 as the drying will become uneven.

Anyway, the apples in the picture above are all from our trees (or trees alongside the road).  They are truly beautiful and delicious.  For the first time in my recollection we won't actually have to buy any "fresh eating" apples as these untended trees are producing great fruit as is (I know, I keep harping on this point, but it is rather spectacular). 

My darling husband and I have basically been running the dehydrator every night with its trays full of apples.  To prepare, he peels the   

            apples and I slice.  I drop them in a bowl of water mixed with several tablespoons of lemon juice to keep them from browning (not really a necessary step as the taste remains the same, but they do look more attractive when not brown!).  I really like this brand of lemon juice as it's fresh squeezed (read: NOT FROM CONCENTRATE) and is organic. 

We lay the apple slices on the tray.  This was done very quickly (about 3 minutes) in the essence of time, but you can spend all the time in the world arranging them so that there are no spaces between the slices and everything looks very geometric. 

 The trays are stacked, the cover put on and the timer set for about 8 hours at 135 degrees F.  The picture to the left shows the finished product.  I think most models of dehydrators shut off automatically when done, so there's no need to get up in the middle of the night to check!

The four trays (probably made from 15 small to medium apples) yielded about 1 1/2 quarts of dried fruit.  I store them in Mason jars or plastic bags.  Storing them in Mason jars (no need to seal or anything) allows you to see if they are truly dry.  If condensation starts appearing on the inside of the jar you need to dry them more (or eat them) because they will mold. 

We have also used our dehydrator to make liver treats for the dogs, "sun-dried" tomatoes, dried mushrooms, fruit roll-ups (lots of fun and super easy), and beef jerky.  All of these items have a considerably long shelf life (months if not years) and the beauty of it is that there is no need to refrigerate, freeze or can!