Ever have grand plans that fall through when real life gets in the way?
Yeah, it’s a thing!
After all of the harvesting was done from our young apple trees on the urban farm, I was sure I’d get busy with baking everything-apple-under-the-sun!
I started off with a bang with some Apple Coffee Cake and a couple of batches of Apple Spice Drops.
Then I thought I’d better slow down a bit so Sprout might have some apples to eat throughout the fall, so I did.
We ate lots of fresh apples, apples with peanut butter and apples with cheese. They were all delicious!
But then I forgot about the apples (I know, I know) and they got a little soft and wrinkly.
At first I was so mad at myself for wasting such precious gifts from our little farm! But then I realized that they didn’t have to be thrown to the compost or the chickens if I simply dehydrated them even further than they already were and saved them for snacks for Sprout or to put on cereal or mixed into oatmeal!
Dehydrating apples is so simple! I couldn’t believe I’d left that one off my list of Things To Do With All Those Apples!
So, dehydrate them I did! Here’s how:
- Leaving the skins on, chop your apples into small-ish bite sized chunks, tossing any spots or bruises
- As you cut your apples up, throw the pieces into a bowl of water and lime juice to keep them from browning (I used the juice of one lime to ~12 cups of water)
- Drain your apple pieces
- Lay your pieces out on your dehydrator trays evenly (the pieces can touch, but shouldn’t be piled on top of each other)
- Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of your apple pieces (If you like cinnamon, that is! I did half with cinnamon and half without)
- Turn your dehydrator on low to medium and dehydrate for ~12 hours (I did four hours on medium, then rotated the trays and turned it down to low overnight)
- Once dried to your liking (I like ours with just a tiny bit of give), remove your dehydrated apples from their trays and place them in a seal-able container
- Your dehydrated apples can be kept either in the fridge or in the freezer, depending on how quickly you think you’ll eat them (ours are living in the fridge in quart sized mason jars)
Because the apples were so very over-ripe, they are so very sweet without any extra sweetener added! Bonus!
That’s it! Dehydrating apples: A quick, easy way to preserve the season and keep some healthy snacks around!
Now, how do you preserve fresh fruits and veggies that are a little past their prime for fresh eating? Do tell!
xoxo,
M
This is fantastic. we waste so much apple. Often when we buy apples they go ripe way to quickly
Dehydrated foods are typically shelf stable. Can’t imagine using fridge or freezer space for dried apples. For long storage I would vacuum seal in glass canning jars.