My kitchen is imbued with the sweet aroma of plums and apples cooking.
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| this afternoon's picking from the garden |
The garden has produced another bumper crop of apples and plums, far more than we can ever eat. Last year we made wine but this year we decided to do something different and bought ourselves a dehydrator. You can of course dry fruit and vegetables in the oven but this machine is especially designed for the purpose and can accommodate several racks at the same time.
Right now we have apples, plums and tomatoes drying, yesterday we experimented with courgette and beetroot crisps. They make a delightful snack, something I can eat without feeling guilty about the number of calories!
(Paul has been in charge of slicing the apples and courgettes, I have now been banned from using the mandoline after taking the tip of my finger off. “Go careful with that, it’s very sharp – oops, too late!”)
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| apple crisps, dried tomatoes and plum slices |
The apple crisps are delicious, lightly seasoned with cinnamon and the dried plums are slightly chewy with an intense flavour. If we get the drying process right the produce should last for up to six months. So no apple or plum wine this year but we do have a bucket of elderberry juice fermenting away.
Sorry to hear you have sliced the end of your finger off Sue. I hope it's not the one you normally use to pick your nose. I had never heard of dehydrators before. Sounds like you are having some good results. I would try slices of beetroot.
ReplyDeleteThe beetroot crisps were very sweet.
DeleteOuch! I used to dry persimmon and kept them in the freezer as I was worried about them going off with our humidity. Once dried they take up very little room and kept well.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a good idea - putting them in the freezer.
DeleteSorry about the finger but all the produce sounds marvellous.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I shall use the mandoline again, it's lethal.
DeleteJenn in Canada wrote about them recently. Same thing. I had never heard of a mandoline before.
DeleteWell that is some fruit to keep you on your five a day.
ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to the dried plums at the moment, they are so tasty.
DeleteSounds like your new gadget is earning its keep!
ReplyDeleteIt's busy right now - just put a few more trays of sliced plum in.
DeleteThose dryer gadgets are terrific. A friend of mine spends many days in Summer slicing and drying the mangoes from her tree. She doesn't waste a single precious one this way. She also does pineapple and banana but it is really only economical to dry your own produce as buying stuff to dry is not very cost effective. Using a combination of fruit whizzed up to a pulp produces those rollup thingies that are chewy and delicious.
ReplyDeleteThrow the mandolin away , I did !!
That's going to be my next experiment - the fruit roll up.
DeleteSorry about your finger. That is one lethal gadget. A friend a few years ago did the same thing a required 6 stitches at the ER. Your new dehydrator sounds terrific. Based on your experience with drying fruit and veg, I am going to consider buying one. The healthy snacks sound delicious!
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed with ours so far. It's on constantly right now while we have so much stuff in the garden to use.
DeleteDried apples and plums sound wonderful! Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteWe only have about eight trees but they produce a tremendous amount of fruit.
DeleteThe only things I've dried here are Cepes and Tomatoes; dried in the sun. Have you tried making fruit leathers? If you have lots, Plum leather might be good.
ReplyDeletePaul used to sun dry his tomatoes but we don't get enough strong sunshine to do that here. Fruit leather sounds interesting, I shall investigate.
DeleteThe best is Apricot.
DeleteSo that's what you've been doing lately!
ReplyDeleteThe dehydrator was something I first saw on "Escape to the Chateau". Dick used it to dry some of his surplus fruit and veg, and Angel borrowed it to dry flower petals for confetti!
I've taken the top off my finger too with my mandoline, so am more careful now. I like the blade attachment which produces such finely shredded veg. I have a very ancient Braun processor with a selection of different cutting attachments, but it's such a nuisance to assemble and clean afterwards, and not worth the effort when I'm only making small quantities.
Sorry to hear about your finger - I think it's an occupational hazard around anything with sharp blades. My mandoline has an attachment with spikes, that you use to secure veg like onions and when you slice, it protects your fingertips.
I was using the attachment but it slipped. Dried flower petals - I must give that a go!
DeleteDoes the dried fruit 'go' with the wine? Anything ought to be better than those highly calorific and often salty snacks.
ReplyDeleteThe courgette crisps (dried with a little onion salt and then sprinkled with herbs) went extremely well with a glass of wine. Unfortunately they disappeared far too quickly!
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