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Gidday

Can anyone give me any tips about dehydrating apples.

I have been doing it successfully with apricots, peaches and tomatoes by just slicin them up and drying, but how thes the apples going brown effect things or is it just a colour thing and nothing to worry about.

G'Day Jack,

I thing they need to be treated with an antioxidant, I vague memory is dissolve up some vitamin C and wash 'em over with that but I need to chack!

nev

Ahh yes, one of my dehydrating books says only do two apples at a time, and apply lemon juice!

Nev

My local organic market sells dried apple rings loose, and they are delicious. I'll see if anyone there has any more tips.

Gidday

Thanks ewe jokers.

My main question is, is the browning of the apples only cosmetic or is it more.


I am not too fussy what things look like but don't want to lose any flavour or nutrition from them.

I'm pretty sure it is just cosmetic Jack!

Why not dry them out in a low oven? They won't go brown then.

wyrdwoman wrote:Why not dry them out in a low oven? They won't go brown then.

Oh dear. I've only got an eye-level oven. Do you really think it makes a difference?

Sorry I couldn't resist that one.

I agree with Nev, I think the discolouration is only cosmetic. I have often let apples go brown when preparing them and then popped them into something where the colour doesn't matter. It doesn't seem to affect the taste.

I know that the browing is caused by oxidation of the juices on the cut surface of the fruit but I can't remember what they oxidise into. I know we have some chemists in the forum. Perhaps they can enlighten me.

Cheers
Zoe

if you dip the slices into the fizzy drink 'sprite' the citric acid stops them from going brown.
This is the same as adding lemon juice but doesn't taste as sour.
It also works for banana and is very useful for fruit salads.

Just one thing though, do not store in a metallic container as the sprite seems to react and make it taste awful. my daughter proudly brought her fruit salad home from 'home ec' class in one of those disposable foil containers and we had to sit there and eat it!
bleugh!

Gidday

I only started dehydrating last year and had a few things go off. So this year I am using it to shrink the fruit right down then bunging them in the freezer as this way it don't take too much freezer space.

I might try to get some citic acid and give it a go. I am not a fan of those fizzy drinks cos I dunno what the put in them.

lemon juice will keep them white, but i never bother - it's a waste of lemons. i do dozens of large apples each year from two trees, both grown from apple cores. one has large crisp eating apples and they stay fairly white. the smaller cyder-type apple goes a rich russet brown. in my opinion that browning improves the flavour and is best allowed. i also leave the cores in - they aren't at all inconvenient.
wyverne

Gidday

So I take it that you just slice the apple through to make rings.

When cooking apples I only chunk and the only thing I throw away is the stalk or any rot. Then I use a hand held wizz thingie to mush pips and all.

Don't apple pips contain cyanide, Jack? Sure I heard that somewhere. Could be a myth, I suppose.

yeah, you slice them about twice as thick as the commercially available ones and they thin down when they dry. they don't reconstitute all that well in cooking, but they're great just as they are, or chopped into meusli or health bars etc.
and muddypause i think you might be thinking of peach stones, which are failry toxic, and apricots can be toxic in large amounts. but i never heard of apple pips being toxic at least not in the quantities we eat them. in fact whole-foods enthusiasts recommend you eat the whole apple, core, pips and all, and i've been doing it without harm all my life.
wyverne

Muddy is right, apples pips do contain small amounts of cyanide, not enough to worry about unless you are eating lots of pips though.