I am learning to dehydrate and I am wanting to do apples. I have understood that you have to use fruit fresh. Fruit fresh contains "preservatives" that I do not want on my organic apples. Can I crush vit. C mix with water and dip my apples in it?
Suzie, I dried tons of apples this past fall. I didn't use anything other than washed them in lemon juice. Some I did plain and some I put cinnamon on. They are still good. The ones that are left anyway. I made about 6 gallons altogether. They are SO good.
Kelly just go for it. I watched several Youtube episodes about dehydrating and I am so excited about it. I did bananas using a butter cutter to keep the bananas uniform for the drying. I dipped them in orange juice, because I did not have lemon. They are not crispy like when you buy them, because I found out that they dry then deep fry and then dip in sugar water. Not healthy. I did like my bananas slightly crispy on edges and somewhat chewy in the center. Still cheap and wonderful and HOMEMADE.
I just used bottled juice mixed in the water to wash them off. Just swirled the apple slices around. Most were crunchy while some were leathery. But all were really good. I like them both ways. I think it has to do with how long they are in the dehydrator. And how cool they are before being stored. I store in plastic gallon bags. Also have stored in glass jars.
Suzie, I don't use either. Wash, cut and put them on the trays. The type of apple you use will determine if it will turn a little brown (the reason to use lemon juice) or stay a nice yellow. I've been doing apples for years and they come out just tasty.
Sometimes my brain doesn't keep up with the topic. Look back at the Native Americans that would cut and hang all the fruits and veggies. They didn't have all the "extra" stuff to use. They just did it. I think the dehydrator helps to keep the fruit its more natural color than just hanging on a string, but dried fruit is dried fruit. The preservatives are about saving the color.
Thanks for bringing up the topic of dehydrating. Last summer I dried a bunch of squash. Somewhere I have a recipe that says to put the squash in the food processor and process until it is a powder. Then you mix the powder with milk/egg ? and make a pudding. Going to have to look that up when I get done here.
Do you leave the skin on the apples? i have a peeler/corer from pampered chef I was planning on using so they are uniform in thickness. I love the butter cutter idea for bananas. I bought fruit today, going to dig the dehydrator out of the garage.
I have the same thing, Kelly. It makes a circle and I just cut down one side to get round slices. Works great and they are all the same size. Have fun! It takes a lot of apples to get a gallon. ABout 8 trays full
Kris
Happiness is simple.
Farm Kitchen: dehydrating apples - Fruit Fresh vs Vit C
dehydrating apples - Fruit Fresh vs Vit C
Posted - Jan 06 2011 : 2:33:58 PM
