So, I’ve decided that since it’s fall, it is time for some experiments in preserving food for the winter. I’m actually kind of excited about this, because I know absolutely nothing about it. I always just go to the grocery story for my fruit and vegetables. It was kind of ironic when I went to Giant (our local grocery store) this weekend and found organic apples from New Zealand. Now, I’m all for globalization, but here in Virginia it is apple season, while in New Zealand it is the beginning of spring! I was going to go to the farmers market, but I didn’t get a chance to on Saturday and I really wanted to try this, so I found some local organic apples at Trader Joes.
This morning, I peeled and sliced eight apples and put them on screens covered in cheese cloth in the sun. Before you put the slices on the screen, you dip each slice in a bowl with one quart water and 1/4 cup lemon juice. This is supposed to keep them from turning brown. The last time I was at Lowes, I bought a couple cheap window screens to be used for paper making, and they work perfectly for drying as well. I only had two though, so I am also using cooling racks and some baking sheets, I will let you all know if there is any appreciable difference between them.
As you can see in the photo below, I put the screens on the red brick that we have to put the fire pit on. I’m hoping that the brick will help the apples dry a bit faster since they are so much warmer than just plain ground. It is supposed to take 2-3 days normally, so I will let you know how they taste later on! If they’re good, I’m looking forward to putting up a bunch more while they’re in season. Now I just need to figure out what you do with dried apples! I’m sure that there must be recipes for using them creatively.
OFG – I live in northern Michigan and this is the time of year when we live on apples. Apple pie, apple sauce, cooked apples with brown sugar and cinnamon on oatmeal, ice cream and plain, baked apples and my daughters favorite, dried apples. I have had a electric drier for over 30 years and we only use it for drying fruit. It gets a major workout for weeks on end and uses a lot of electric. My daughter eats them as fast as we can make them. We literally have to hide them from her. I want to make lots of them for the year but with Julia around it’s impossible! I started looking on line for a solution and how I could make more of them without using all the energy. I will check your site often to see how yours are doing. I was thinking of stringing them on thread and hanging them in the basement where it’s warm and dry and I may try this at some point in time. We have these apples up here called Honey Crisp and they are THE BEST APPLES ever. Very crisp and very sweet. They tend to be more expensive but they are so tasty it’s hard to not buy them. We have good friends that grow cherries and apples so we get free fruit by the truck load but they don’t grow the Honey Crisp. Anyway!—I will be watching. If you ever want any dried cherries let me know!
Enjoy! Bill
Bill – Those apples sound fantastic! I don’t think that I have ever heard of that variety. The sun dried apples are fantastic! I saw another site that suggested using a roll of screen, doubling it over, and using wooden laundry pins to close it. I’m not sure what you would put that on to keep it off of the dirty ground, but I think that I am going to try that next. Stringing them up also sounds like a good idea, let me know if it works well!
[…] Dried Apples […]
Sun drieded – Tin roof worked for mom.
What a GREAT post. I hope you don’t mind if I “borrow” this link for National Apple Month in October!
I’m so glad I somehow fell upon your blog (probably in search of dried apples:) It’s a saver. Thanks for sharing…
Just stumbled on your great blog when looking for info about drying some of my apples. I’ll pass it on to my daughter, who is always looking for natural ways to do things.
I’m lucky enough to have a convection oven, so I think I will use that for drying. We’re into the wet season here in the pacific northwest, so I can’t do sun drying, much as I’d like to. I do dry my herbs – thyme, oregano and basil – for winter, but this is the first time for apples!
Granny spread the sliced apples on sheets on the porch roofs that were on three sides of the old log house in Eastern Kentucky. My Grandparents didn’t buy anything that they could make for themselves. I just bought four apple, one pear and one cherry tree to start a small farm orchard of my own. Pear tree needs another pear, but my neighbor has a couple. Looking forward to try drying apples for myself