Preserving Your Harvest

[saysfaa]

Does anyone like to make dried apple rings? If so, what's your favorite apple to dry? ...

Honeycrisp, so far.
Second favorite is from the "ugly duckling for applesauce" bin. They may be Jonamac - the people at the market said she saw some in my basket.

SweeTango was ok but nothing to write home about - they were better fresh

MacIntosh are also ok.

Today, I bought a half bushel each of Ambrosia and Northern Spy to try next. And another bushel of ugly ducklings. I'll know how they are in a day or two.

Hm, I like tart, though. That and/or spicy much more than sweet.

Also, it matters if you pick them up from the orchard or if they have been shipped far or stored long and how they have been shipped or stored. Some varieties tolerate shipping and/or storage MUCH better than others.

 

[saysfaa]

I've never made raisins, so this may not work. I dried some cherry tomatoes by slicing them in half, and putting the skin side down on the dehydrator trays. They are very tasty, and I wish I'd made more.

I looked into doing this as well. A tip I read said to cut a small slit into each grape, don't cut them in half, just slit them open a little so the insides dry faster. I don't know how that method works, we ended up eating the grapes before I got a chance to try it

The vanessa and mars are too small to cut in half like that. I don't have a fine screen so they would fall through the trays. That would be worth trying if you have a suitable screen.

Also, they are less than half the size of the grape tomatoes I dried. The grape tomatoes were tedious to cut in half. I sliced one of the roma tomatoes and much prefer that. These romas were bought at the fruit market and were bigger than most romas I've seen and very uniform. I would have done more if I'd found them sooner; they were out when I went back a week later.

If I try again, I'll experiment with poking or slashing them to see how small a slit will work for drying faster vs taking longer to do and so on. We rarely eat raisins although if these are as much better than the typical store options as dried cherries are, I think we will eat more.

 

[Sammster]

I don't have a fine screen so they would fall through the trays. That would be worth trying if you have a suitable screen.

I needed a screen for a couple of my trays. I found plastic, mesh sheets at hobby lobby in their needlepoint section, and cut it to fit. Worked great!

 

[tripletfeb]

Honeycrisp, so far.
Second favorite is from the "ugly duckling for applesauce" bin. They may be Jonamac - the people at the market said she saw some in my basket.

SweeTango was ok but nothing to write home about - they were better fresh

MacIntosh are also ok.

Today, I bought a half bushel each of Ambrosia and Northern Spy to try next. And another bushel of ugly ducklings. I'll know how they are in a day or two.

Hm, I like tart, though. That and/or spicy much more than sweet.

Also, it matters if you pick them up from the orchard or if they have been shipped far or stored long and how they have been shipped or stored. Some varieties tolerate shipping and/or storage MUCH better than others.

Ambrosia are my favorite apple to eat, by far. They taste like how an apple should taste. Sweet, crunchy, like autumn

 

[Sally PB]

Honeycrisp, so far.

Oh, those are great dried. But they're $35/half bushel, versus $15 for Empire.

I just got a third half bushel to dry. I like to give them as Chirstmas gifts, and I need more!

 

[tripletfeb]

Strained the apples out of my vinegar today. Now the hard part starts, waiting a few months for it to be finished!

 

[saysfaa]

Oh, those are great dried. But they're $35/half bushel, versus $15 for Empire.

I just got a third half bushel to dry. I like to give them as Chirstmas gifts, and I need more!

Depends on where you get them. I've seen them around here for that but also for half that much.

 

[saysfaa]

Wow!!!! The Northern spy are still drying but they made the best applesauce I've ever tasted. By far. With no sugar or even any cinnamon or nutmeg. Hm, maybe partly because there was no sugar. My mother probably used similar apples but she added tons of sugar to all fruit.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I make apple sauce of Cosmic crisp and Gala apples.
I add cloves and brown sugar.

 

[Sally PB]

I made applesauce out of the wild apples here. I don't know what kind they are, they must be 60-80 years old...? Hubby really likes it. It's just the apples, with enough water added so they don't scorch. No sugar. He adds some sugar and cinnamon when he eats it.

He also cut up some of them for drying and thinks they're really good too. I like the Empires better, myself.