Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Peach processing part II

Excailbur, fully loaded
 Once the peaches were in the dehydrator, I didn't have to do anything to them until they were finished. Just turn on Excalibur and let them dry. My dehydrator holds 9 trays, and I filled them all. I probably could have done a second, smaller batch, but decided to freeze those peaches instead. That way, I have snacking peaches, and peaches that I can use for future smoothies and pies.


Yummy little slices of summer
Each tray is made of two parts: the black supporting layer and a plastic mesh.  This is a different design from my father's dehydrator, and it has one great advantage: the mesh is flexible and removable. What does this mean for me? It means I don't have to scrape the peaches off with my fingernails or leave bits stuck to the trays.  The mesh can flex and pop the peaches right off. Even the most stubborn peach pieces came off with a minimum of fuss.

These won't last very long...
To store the peaches, I used a vacuum sealer and its special bags.  I had to buy this at the same time as Excalibur. It was such fun to use, I was actually looking around the kitchen to see if there were any other objects that needed to be sealed! Anyway, now the peaches will last for quite a while, or they will, if we don't eat them all. We have already munched through one bag. They are just so good!

2 comments:

mdvlist said...

I am wildly envious of your dehydrator. And the fact that you seem to have a place to put the thing.

Hope said...

It is in our laundry room - less than a foot to the right of the dehydrator is the washing machine. Not really a big room. I would actually have it in the kitchen proper, if it weren't for the dog and his bed being where I would put it.

And I had to use my nightstand to hold it, so I am using a footstool cum table to hold the cat's water glass and my other bits and pieces by my bed.

But yes, it is a great toy.