Dried Apples

In the previous post I mentioned that I noticed that the apples did not turn brown when I sprinkled them with charcoal. This intrigued me. I was wanting to make dried apple slices and was a bit unsure of the lemon juice that was available here. It had some preservative in it (in Australia they don't seem to want to make it to readily known just what ingredients are in their products, this was “preservative 223”. I did look it up, but I don't remember which not-so-great preservative it was). Normally when drying apples, after cutting them I dip them into a lemon/water solution to prevent them from turning brown while they dry on my dehydrator (which is also in care of my Mom). I did not really want to use this lemon juice and so I decided to do some experimenting.

I cored and peeled the apples and cut them into slices. I then places the sliced apples in a bowl of water to which some charcoal had been added. I let them soak for a few minutes and then placed them on a cooking tray (stainless steel).


They did look quite speckled, but since charcoal doesn't have or affect taste I didn't really care.

I then sprinkled the apples with cinnamon and placed them in the grill part of my oven. I set the grill as low as it would go. On my dehydrator I was able to adjust the temperature and always dehydrated things below 110 F in order to maintain as many nutrients as I could. I did not have a clue what temperature it got to in my gill, but I keep the door open at times so it would not heat up too much.



When they are dried through to your likeness (longer for “chips” less if you want them more spongy), remove from oven. I've put these in the freezer so we don't eat them all right away. I'll use them for a snack or to add to granola. These are only brown from the cinnamon, otherwise, they have not yellowed very much at all.