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!

Getting Ready for Winter with some Freezing

It's now officially "late summer", but we've been working like crazy to get all of our food up for the winter.  Nature works on her time, not ours, and we have to remain flexible even if we were caught off guard this year with the incredibly early apple season.  The apples are truly amazing.  If you're in the Northeast, perhaps you're noticed the bounty and size of apples on trees that have not been tended by humans for years.  We found a tree around the corner that has some early type of green apple that rivals any apple at a farmers' market in size, looks and flavor. After asking permission from the landowners, we grabbed our apple picker and ladder and picked 10 gallons of apples in about 15 minutes.  The lack of a late frost, and a relatively warm, dry (but not drought) summer has led to the best apple season in a dozen years. 

This onslaught of apples means that cider pressing season is under way--a full 6 weeks early (we haven't even gotten the dried beans on the drying screen yet!). My darling husband  pressed the first two batches last night.  Due to the flies, the warm weather, and the lack of freezer space, we heated it up to pasteurize it and then will just drink it in the next week or so.  I have plenty of apples to make pies, crumbles and applesauce with as well.  And then at some point, I'll have to dehydrate a dozen or so quarts.   

The tomatoes are also in, which means we're prepping those for winter storage as well.  To keep things simple, we simmer down a bunch of roma (paste) tomatoes (cut in half but skins still on) with a handful of fresh basil and oregano. Then we just blend them and store them in the freezer in quart containers or baggies.  When we want to make sauce we'll take a container out, add more herbs and some sugar and let it cook down.   If you don't have your own garden, I would highly recommend that you purchase your tomatoes from a local farmers' market.  You'll get a great deal if you buy in bulk (I paid $15 for about 20lbs of tomatoes which is 75% off the $3/lb price) and if you have the freezer space it is well worth it.   If you don't have a large freezer, there is a great book out there,  Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning, which highlights old world techniques.

A new technique I just learned for preserving corn is to simply to blanch the cob and then freeze the whole darn thing.  I've always cut the kernels off the cob after blanching, but this way allows you to obviously have corn on the cob in the middle of January.  I guess it depends on how much room you have in that freezer.   

You'll find celery at the markets as well right now.  This would be the easiest vegetable to preserve, as you just dice it and freeze.  No blanching, boiling, etc.  required.  I keep the leaves as well for tossing in stocks, soups etc. and also because it works as a great substitute for parsley.

Finally, peppers are coming in. My own pepper plants did not fare too well (as usual), but I have been buying them for $0.75 a piece at the market. I dice them up, saute them with a little olive oil for just a few minutes and then freeze.  Throughout the winter, I can pull them out and add to fajitas, soups, stews, steak, etc.  I've also stuffed a few of the peppers with a sausage/cheese/rice/veggie medley.  I wrap those babies in foil and, guess what, freeze them.   It makes supper SO simple, especially on a busy day.  You can prepare stuffed zucchini in the same fashion as well. 

So the freezer at this point, is pretty full.  I also have bags and bags of peas, beans, corn, blueberries, and strawberries in our small upright freezer.   The only other thing i have to put in there (aside from tomatoes) will be any onions that are not of good storage quality.  I'll saute those up and then freeze in small quantities, as onions are not supposed to be refrozen once thawed.  Then we'll be good to go fruit and vegetable wise for the freezer.  Root vegetables will be stored in the cellar, and the kale, brussel sprouts and leeks will be wintering over in the garden for as long as possible.