How To Dehydrate Apples With A Food Dehydrator

A food dehydrator can be a terrific addition to your kitchen small appliance arsenal.  Not only is a dehydrator a great way to preserve food but it’s also a wonderfully easy way to stretch your food budget.

In hard economic times when food prices are rising, adding a gadget like a food dehydrator to your cooking equipment will pay for itself in a short period of time. 

Using a food dehydrator to make dried apples is just one of the many ways you can put your new tool to use.  Dehydrated apples make excellent snacks any time.  They can also be used in many ways as you’ll see below.

Finished dehydrated apples

DRYING APPLES WITH A DEHYDRATOR

What you’ll need:

• Food dehydrator 
• Apples
• Ascorbic acid (if desired to prevent darkening)
• Lemon, lime, pineapple or orange juice instead of ascorbic acid.

Dehydrated apples are best if fresh but you can also use apples that are slightly past their prime.  (This is where the money-saving aspect of owning a food dehydrator comes in)

If using organic apples that have not been treated or sprayed, scrub vigorously.  If desired, peel apples, core and seed.  Slice into 3/8″ slices. 

If pretreating with ascorbic acid or one of the natural solutions above, soak for 5 minutes before placing in dehydrator.

Arrange apple slices spaced closely on trays in food dehydrator but not too close to prevent air circulation during drying. 

Stack trays in dehydrator and set temperature to 130-140 degrees.  Depending upon the amount that you are drying, dried apples should take between 4 and 10 hours to be fully dehydrated.

DEHYDRATING APPLES

Here are some more points about making your own dried apples in a food dehydrator.

• Most dehydrated fruits can be eaten “as is” after dehydrating – no need for rehydrating them
• Add them to fruit soups or hot breakfast cereals for added nutrition and flavor
• Rehydrate for applesauce or even to make a pie
• Canned or frozen fruit can be dehydrated
• Dried fruits with the peel or without the peel retain their fiber content and calories after the drying process
• Use your dehydrator to make apple leather or fruit roll-ups.  This is a great favorite of kids and it is all natural!
• Buy apples when on sale and capitalize on the low price by making up many batches of dried apples
• Dried apples also make great additions to craft projects such as wreaths, potpourri, etc. 
• Dried fruits are easily stored and make great additions to trail mixes and snack mixes

For more on how to dehydrate foods, see this article on hubpages.com.

Learn how to make your own sun dried tomatoes in a food dehydrator on onepagearticles.com.

For more information on how to dry edible mushrooms, see this article on thisisfreelance.com.