Ginger Gold Apples
Last week I froze 20 pounds of organic peaches from my Azure Standard order. I also got 20 pounds of organic Ginger Gold apples! The only problem is that I’ve never tried Ginger Gold apples before and none of us liked them very much for fresh eating. They are a summer apple and instead of a crisp, tart apple (the kind we like), they were kind of soft and not very flavorful.
When I took my first bite, I wrinkled my nose and thought ‘Wow, we have 20 pounds of apples that I don’t really want to eat.” However, we all like dried apples, so into the dehydrator they went. Guess what, they taste great dried!
I’m on my second load in the dehydrator as I write this, and there are a few more to go after these are done.
Dehydrating Apples
Drying apples is pretty easy, although it can be messy and time consuming. I used my apple corer, peeler, slicer dohicky. It makes very quick work of this part of the job. However, if you really want your apples completely peeled, they either need to be perfectly shaped or you’ll be peeling a bit by hand. I didn’t care if they had peels. They apples come out in a long spiral slice that I broke into smaller pieces to lay flat on the trays
I used to work at getting as many slices as I could on each tray, but I don’t worry so much about that now. I think they dry faster when they aren’t packed in like sardines. I set the temperature for 115 degrees Fahrenheit and went about my business. I didn’t treat the apples with sulfur, so the finished product will need to go in the refrigerator for long term storage. That may not be a big problem, since they’ll probably disappear pretty quickly.
I always unplug the dehydrator when I go to bed because I’ve read that one model (I don’t remember which one) was recalled for catching fire…not good. Mine is an older Nesco model that is no longer made, so I don’t want to take chances. It took two days (approximately 24 hours total) to finish drying the apple slices. You can sprinkle them with cinnamon and/or sugar if you like. I felt that the apples were sweet enough on their own.
I like having multiple methods of preserving food for the winter. Dehydrating is a nice way to save fruits, veggies, and herbs for later. If dried until crispy, they will be shelf stable for a long time. I have read that you should blanch vegetables before dehydrating to prevent the natural enzymes from causing deterioration. I haven’t had a problem with this, but I think I will try a batch each way and see if the blanched ones taste better. Blanching isn’t necessary for fruits.
Do you dehydrate fruits, veggies, and herbs? What would you do with 20 pounds of apples that you didn’t like for fresh eating?
Shared on Farm Fresh Tuesdays
I really love my Excalibur dehydrator–it’s been a great tool for this canning-averse wife of an avid gardener. I do lots of apples, but tomatoes are my favorite. Back to the apples–just today i soaked about a cup of dried apples in about 1/4 cup of rum, then put them in a saucepan with a couple of teaspoons of butter and cooked them down gently to cook off most of the alcohol but retain the rum flavor. I had to add a little water to keep from scorching, and the result was a wonderful “apple pie filling” compote (I avoid added sugar).
That sounds delicious, Cindy! I will have to try that. 🙂 I have a bottle of rum that I bought for a recipe and I never use it. Good for you for avoiding sugar. I know I should cut back on it for our health. I’ve experimented with honey in place of sugar for baked goods and I like it, but we don’t have our own bees and we go through it so quickly!
This apple pie filling compote would smell wonderful simmering away on our woodstove this week!
Thanks for sharing my Maple Syrup Candy and Jack Wax post on your newsletter! For folks who are interested in pioneer life, here is a link to Cindy’s newsletter and blog…
https://www.rosettebook.com/
Thanks for the shout out–I love your beautiful blog!
Happy to share! Thank you, Cindy!
That sounds delish, Rebecca! I still have some of them in my crisper and they are holding up quite well there! I have been hoping to make apple bread…maybe later this week. Thanks so much for stopping back and sharing 🙂
You are welcome. I enjoy many articles on your site, thanks for what you do.
Thank you for reading, Rebecca! I’m happy to share my adventures with you 🙂
Did you try to cook with the Ginger Gold apples? I ended up getting two boxes from Azure as well, and I wonder if it is worth trying apple pie or sauce.
Hi Rebecca,
I haven’t tried that. I do have about a dozen of them left in the crisper in the fridge, so I could try it. I guess I only dehydrated 16 pounds of them, after all! I think they would be good cooked with some lemon juice. 🙂
I’ll give it a try. 🙂
Let me know how they come out, Rebecca. 🙂
Will do 🙂
The ginger gold apples were good cooked. My mom thought to add rhubarb to an apple cobbler and the result was good, so good in fact that I did not get any 🙂 My kids ate most of the rest of them fresh.
I think sulfur helps retain the color, not preserve the apples. Thanks for your story. Great way to salvage the apples. I’ll bet your place smelled wonderful.
Thanks for the input, Katie!
I’ve dehydrated fruit for 2 years now, and have never used sulfur and never had a problem with anything going off. I also used lemon juice the first year, to stop discolouration, didn’t use it the second year, and can’t say I’ve really noticed much difference in the colour. Certainly not enough difference to be bothered faffing about with lemon juice! I leave the skins on the apples I’m dehydrating, and they’re still fine.
Thanks for sharing, Donna! I used lemon juice a few times, but haven’t been using it lately. We don’t mind the skins either. I haven’t had any issues with the dried fruit going bad, but we like it a little chewy and I’m concerned that the moisture level could cause mold, so I didn’t want to take any chances after buying the fruit and spending the time preserving it. 😉
I just finish canning 53pints and 24 quarts of applesauce. Very tart apple. Hoping to get some pears and will can as pear sauce and dehydrate some as well. I just add fresh lemon juice to jars, and will drop each slice to be dehydrated into a bowl the lemon juice.
You’ve been busy! Good for you 🙂 It will all taste so good this winter. The wild apple trees across the road from us seem to have some pretty good fruit this year, so I might be able to make some sauce too.
Thanks for sharing your method!