Dried Apples

One of our apple trees is called an Early Transparent. That is the only apple tree I’ve been able to identify so far. I have a list the previous owners gave me. It just doesn’t specify which tree is which apple. How did I know that this one was the Early Transparent? An avid lover of anything in the genre of mystery I used my deductive reasoning to figure it out. My first clue was how big the apples were compared to the other trees. In addition to that I had been noticing that the apples were dropping from the tree already. Lastly I Googled “Early Transparent” and saw a picture. It is a good thing they didn’t write the other name for it which is Yellow Transparent. I might not have figured it out.

I decided to dry the apples. My parents bought me an awesome food dehydrator for my birthday almost seven years ago. I’ve dried many types of fruit. This is the first time however that I have not had to purchase the fruit.

Here are the beauties.They have  a delightful taste. A bit on the tart side.

I love this tool. It has been around for decades and I know why. It cores and slices and peels(if you want) apples. I use it for drying because the slices are consistent in size which is important.

I didn’t peel these apples since I know there are no chemicals on the skin.

This little piece of equipment is a HUGE time saver. Aren’t they pretty. Nicely sliced and cored.

One slice down the side and they are individual slices. These apples were large so they took up a lot of space on each sheet.

Thankfully I have a big dehydrator. Nine trays

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Set it to 135 degrees and 12 hours on the timer and off I go to work on planning the school year.

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It didn’t take the full 12 hours. I have the dehydrator in my canning room which is rather small. The room heated up pretty good between the warm weather and the dehydrator going. Here is what they look like dried.

The first time I dried apples I soaked the slices in ascorbic acid water. It is supposed to prevent the fruit from browning. I haven’t done it since. Too much work and really, they don’t look bad without it.

I just love storing up food for the winter.

Karen