Dehydrated Apples

Last year my mom started buying dried apples for a quick healthy snack. The pro: they were delicious! The con: they are a bit on the expensive side. So this year I decided to buy seconds apples (apples that didn't meet the grade so you can buy them cheaper and cut out the small imperfections) from my local farmer. Making dried apples is surprisingly easy. Here are the instructions for how I did it. The dehydrated I use is an Excalibur . I've used other dehydrators before, but this is by far my favorite!! Also, you can peel and slice your apples by hand by I really liked using Pampered Chefs Apple Peeler. So lets begin....

 

First gather all your apples. To fill all the screens of the Excalibur it took me around 25 - 30 medium apples. I chose to use Gloden Delicious apples because they are really sweet...but you can play around with the varieties. 

 

Next, place your apple on the corer/peeler. You wanta make sure your apple core is centered on the prongs. Note: If you are doing this by hand you'll want to peel the apple, core it, and then slice it very thinly.

 

The peeler will core, peel and slice the apple for you. 

Next make sure you cut off any bad spots and make one cut from the top to the bottom of the apple so the sliced fall apart instead of sticking together.

 

Next add 1/4 cup lemon juice of 1 quart of water.

 

Place apples in and coat with lemon water. You only need to leave them in the lemon water a few second. Then take them out the let them drain while you continue with peeling and cutting the rest of your apples. 

 

Arrange neatly on your screens.  They can touch each other a little because they will shrink a lot as they dry.

 

Once all your screens are full, then place the lid on the dehydrator. Put the temperature on  135 degrees and let dehydrate for 7-9 hours depending on how dry you like your apples. If you are using a dehydrator when you stack the screens and the motor is at the bottom, you may need to rotate your screens for even drying. In my dehydrator, they have been ready after 8 hours.

 

This is what they look like when they are finished. They will be pliable. 

 

Store in a cool place in an air tight container...or my favorite...a glass jar!!