Dehydrating apples?

[DenimDaze]

Are there any tricks to it? I am in the middle of a lot of apple growers and would love to be able to dehydrate bushels of apples.

 

I was thinking of using my oven to be able to fit a lot of apples into it at one time.

 

Which would work better, rings or chunks?

 

thanks in advance!

[Violet]

Slices in thin wedges or rings. I suggest getting an apple, peeler, corer, machine. I find them for about $4 at the Goodwill. They work so well ! It does the work for you. They are the perfect thickness for drying apples.

I don't pretreat my apples at all. No lemon juice or anything on mine.

A good dehydrator will be much more economical than the oven. The oven door needs to be propped open, a fan placed on the side to blow out the moisture. There goes all your heat, but the heat is needed, too.

You can get a good dryer for about $50. I would not suggest a Ronco or one like that. You really do need a good fan, adjustable thermostat, etc. The Ronco type don't have any fan in them, just a little element. The food can mold or spoil before it ever dries. They take forever, too. You can't safely make jerky in the Ronco type.

I really like the Nesco/ American Harvest ones, the 500 watt dryers for the money. Usually Walmart has them.

 

[Cricket]

I use the American Harvest/Nesco dehydrater I got from Wally World.

 

I use an apple peeler/corer from Pampered Chef, cutting the resulting rings in half. These are dipped in pineapple juice, drained from a can of pineapple rings. The dipped apple slices and pineapple rings are then dried on the "fruit" setting of my dehydrator until leathery.

 

I've also dipped apple slices in diluted lemon juice, or sprinkled them with Fruit Fresh before drying. Or you can dry them "naked" like Violet. It's all good!

[Vlynn]

I usually dip mine in fruit fresh or o.j. It depends on the kind of apple. It seems the harder apples hold their color, while the softer ones turn brown fast.

 

BTW, I was at the grocery store last weekend, and a small pkg. of dehydrated apples (about equal to one apple) was $4.

[DenimDaze]

Yes Vlynn, apples are something it definately pays to dehydrate yourself!

 

Thanks for the help, I'll be getting an apple peeler thingie and using my dehydrator and not my oven.