Before this past weekend, my understanding of food preservation was using a vacuum-sealer and plastic containers for leftovers. I researched and researched some more, deciding I’d learn how to dehydrate, candy, and can some winter fruits.
Washington apple season seems to have stretched into February this year so we hit up Tacoma Boys and WinCo for this experiment, plus I still had some blood oranges from Costco and some Cara Cara’s also from WinCo. I think this sink-full was 25 lbs all together. I may have been overly ambitious here.
The Ever-Ambitious Plans:
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Candied Sour “Straws”
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Candied Orange Slices
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Apple Leather/Fruit Roll-Ups
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Cinnamon Apple Chips
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Strawberry Orange Jam
The Modifications:
Sour straws: two hours at 105° in the dehydrator to dry instead of countertop, spritzed with water to ensure tacky surface and tossed into 1:2 ratio of 1 tbs to 2 tbs of citric acid. When I do it again, I will do about 30 min less to keep the slices sticky.
Orange slices: two hours at 105° in the dehydrator to dry instead of countertop, spritzed with water to get them tacky again. I divided the batch in half and used 1:1 ratio for sugar and citric acid on one half, the other with just sugar. When I do it again, I will check them at an hour for tackiness for sour ones, letting them go longer if we dip them in chocolate (maybe get a crispier texture?)
Fruit leather: used juice of half a lemon and boiled the apples with 1/2 cup of water. Before putting them in the dehydrator, I sprinkled brown sugar once spread out on the silicone sheet. When I do it again, I will use less water to make the applesauce thicker. Also, make sure that the mixture isn’t spread too thin on the sheets, it cracked a bit.
Apple chips: No mods besides leaving the peels on. When I do it again, I want to peel them, slice them in half or quarters and pull them out when they are still a little pliable, they crisp up with the desiccant packet I stored them with.
Strawberry Orange jam: 1/4 less orange bits and subbed for more strawberry. When I do it again, less strawberry, more orange, and maybe less cups of sugar? It is delish, but very sweet. Need to play with the ratios!
The Fruits of My Labor:
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