Delicious Dried Apples

By Laura Killingbeck

There’s no better way to celebrate fall than with some delicious dried apples!

Dehydration is the simple yet magical process of removing water from cells. When you dehydrate a fruit, you’re left with a tightly condensed package of flavor, nutrition, natural sugars, and aroma. Dried fruits are the world’s original candies!

Dried apples are portable, healthy, and easy to make. You can snack on them throughout the day, rehydrate them for baked goods or granola, or keep them in your car, purse, or bike panniers to munch on when you travel. These snacks are so tasty that we hand them out on Halloween as treats.

Dried Apples

Ingredients:

Apples

Instructions:

Core the apples and cut them in thin slices or rounds. Lay them flat on the tray of a food dehydrator* and dehydrate at 135 F for 12 hours or until done.

For short term storage (less than one month), I dehydrate apples until they’re dry but still flexible. For longer term storage, I dehydrate them until they’re crisp like apple chips. Fully dried, crisp, apples can last up to a year or more in storage.

Optional variations:

Some people drizzle lemon juice over their apple slices to preserve the color. I’ve done this and it works. However, the difference is so minimal that I no longer bother.

Try sprinkling your apples with spices before you dry them. Remember that your apples will reduce in volume as you dry them, so a little spice goes a long way! Some good spice variations:

Chile Apples

Cinnamon Apples

Apple Pie Apples (Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg)

*You can often find dehydrators at thrift stores or yard sales. I use a nine tray Excalibur Dehydrator. In some climates, homemade solar dehydrators are also very functional. Other people use an oven turned to low.