Dehydrated Apple Rings

I know that we talk a lot about canning but dehydrating is also a form of home preserving. As we talked about yesterday in Pickled Okra, we also tackled making dehydrated Apple Rings since we had more apples than we could consume. Plus, it gave us a reason to bust out the Nesco Food Dehydrator and Johnny Apple Peeler!

Materials:

Food Dehydrator (can use oven if a dehydrator is not available)
Apple Peeler
1 large bowl

Ingredients:

Apples, washed
(Optional) Cinnamon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 quart water

Process:

Mix together lemon juice and water in a large bowl.
Carefully put apple on apple peeler to core, skin, and slice.
Once complete, put in lemon and water mixture to avoid browning.
Then cut apple spirals into single rings.
If using, pour cinnamon into a bowl and lightly coat apple rings.
Place apple rings on dehydrator sheets carefully avoiding overlapping each ring. (Overlapping rings will slow the dehydrating process).
Set dehydrator to 135° for 6-10 hours. (If using oven, set at lowest setting which is generally 140-150°).
Check on apples after 6 hours to determine how much longer is needed until no moisture remains. (As reference – mine took a good 10 hours)
Once complete, seal in an airtight container. (We used our new FoodSaver Vacuum System (4800 Series) to store in vacuum sealed containers.)