The one with all the apples

So, I had this basket of home grown apples sitting on the floor of the closet... on Studly's side. (What?? My side is covered in shoes!) And I needed to do something with them, since they weren't going to stay fresh forever.



But, I got a spiffy new dehydrator this year, so I decided to dry some apples! Come along and help me!

After you wash your fruit, you need to peel, slice and core them. I could spend all day preparing just one apple, if I had to use a paring knife. Instead, I used my handy dandy Peeler-Corer-Slicer thingie like this. Just look at it go!





I can do probably a couple hundred dozen apples in the time it would take me to peel one by hand.

After peeling-coring-slicing, the apples are soaked in a citrus acid mixture to keep them from discoloring too much.



Drain the apples, and then lay them out on the drying trays with space between them for air flow.



Pop the stacked trays in the magic drying machine (mine is on the back porch to keep the noise and smells down.) After 6 or 7 hours, bring the trays inside to admire.



Looks the same, only darker, and shrunk up. Peel the rings off of the trays, and put in a storage bag to eat during the winter!



Then, I decided that since I had trashed the countertop with all my peeling-slicing-coring work, I might as well do some more and bottle up some apple chunks in juice to use in cobblers and crumbles later on. I put the canner on to boil, which takes a long time, so I dealt with my pitiful harvest of bell peppers in the meantime.



These are supposed to be "stuffing" peppers, but I thought that meant you could put stuff into them. Maybe like this:

Photo by Another Pint Please.

These are so small, that I can only imagine stuffing something else with them! Maybe a chicken, a turkey, or an empty walnut shell. *Sigh* Well, I grew them, so I'm a gonna keep 'em! I cut them in half, flicked pepper seeds all around the kitchen, and watched Sassy chase the seeds! You'd think I was blowing things at her with my mini marshmallow shooter!



Bag 'em up and throw them in the freezer to use later. Oh, the kettle is starting to boil! So, I made an even bigger mess with all the apple peels and put up 3 quarts of apple chunks.



I have more apples, but frankly, I was tired of fiddling with them today! And, I need to find room for all these jars of produce! Here are the curry pickles (very yum) that are still sitting out on the table.



Not Quite Grown... since you have forsaken the farm for the bright lights and retail therapy of the big city, can I use your room as a pantry?? I'll leave room for a cot for you to sleep on if/when you visit!