Make Your Own Apple Chips

 Autumn is settling in on Salt Spring Island and it is not only the leaves that are ready to fall. There is a marvelous crop of apples this year clearly visible as the laden boughs of the apple trees peer over the hedgerows. With an apple tree in my garden and local farm stands weighed down with so many varieties (over 350 varieties grow organically on Salt Spring Island) I decided to investigate a recently inherited apple parer, corer and slicer and food dehydrator. Having made apple sauce for the freezer, dehydrating apples is a great way to preserve the abundance for later in the season when fresh apples are no longer available. The resulting apple chip captures the sweetness of the apple and is great on cereal, as a tasty lunch box snack or as a replacement for fresh apples after they have been rehydrated as described below.

So here we go .....

1.Clean, peel, and core the apples. Then slice the fruit into quarter-inch thick slices. If you wish you can pre-treat the apples to prevent browning by soaking the slices in water and lemon juice (1 tsp lemon juice per 4 cups of water). After the apples have soaked, spread them out on clean towels to absorb the excess water before arranging them on the dehydrator trays. I didn’t pre-treat my slices and I was very pleased with the dehydrated outcome.

2. Next arrange the apple slices on the dehydrator trays. Place them close together but do not allow them to touch each other.

3.Turn on the dehydrator and allow them to dry until they start to turn crispy. The time varies among various dehydrators and can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. Check the manufacturers instructions. If you don’t have a dehydrator turn your oven to the lowest temperature and place the apple rings directly on the racks in your oven and leave the door cracked open a bit. Let them dry in the oven for 24 hours. 

4.Dehydrated foods can be kept in an airtight container in a cool dry place but storing them in the freezer will prevent the possibility of them going bad and preserve the fresh flavour.

5. If you wish to rehydrate the apples, pour hot water over them and let them soak for 10 minutes before draining. They can then be substituted in recipes for fresh apples.

I keep a supply in an airtight jar and dip in to enjoy a healthy snack and  am so thrilled with the ease of this process and the flavourful outcome I am off to tackle a large crop of tomatoes! Yum!