Apples and apples

I have spent an hour and a half preparing apples for the dehydrator.  On Friday, Benjamin picked up my 40 pound box of Golden Delicious from Conway Locally Grown, and yesterday I went to Williams-Sonoma to find a good apple corer (the red handled tool in the upper photo). A corer is a very big help when you are making dehydrated apples, because it means you can make apple rings, instead of just apple slices.  I decided to peel my apples too, although that is not absolutely necessary.  Since these apples were minimally sprayed (although not absolutely organic), they had a lot of blemishes on the skins.

The box of apples is going to take several days to process, since I didn't even get through half of the apples. The slices are a lot bigger than the peach slices, so I can't get as many on each tray. Processing apples is sort of easier, because no boiling water is involved in removing the skins, and the apples aren't as slimy. The mess is smaller too. So, I will probably be peeling apples again tomorrow night, and again on Wednesday (won't be home on Tuesday night). But that is OK, since it will mean I have apples to eat all winter.

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!

Peach processing, part I

I need a bigger stove!

Here is the setup I had on Thursday night as I processed the peaches for the dehydrator.  The pot on the left is for boiling them to loosen the skins, while the pot on the right is full of ice water to cool the peaches so that I can actually handle them to remove the skins.

Bobbing for peaches!

I only did as many peaches would fit in the pots at a time, so they wouldn't get too soggy while I worked on them.
The pits went in the garbage, while the skins got saved for the compost bin.

The newspaper is a must if you want to prevent peach juice from getting everywhere

Once the peaches were skinned and sliced I put them in an ascorbic acid solution to prevent browning.  My salad spinner worked really well for this step, because I could easily lift the basket out to get any stragglers without having to fish around in the peachy water. The newspaper is to protect the counter, and to keep the mess to a minimum.  Since it was me doing the work, any mess minimization strategy is good; I once managed to get molasses on the ceiling. In other words, I am a messy cook. My dad always used the newspaper to attempt to keep the juice from getting on the carpet as he carried the trays down to the basement (not that it worked - I take after him in that department). Once all the trays were loaded up and in the dehydrator, it was time to fire it up and wait. Tomorrow: dehydrated peaches!