I got a new to me food dehydrator. I didn’t know a thing about dehydrators, so called my SIL to ask about her experience with drying food. The previous owner (who is one cool mama) told me that she had used it for the pear tree in her yard — she just sliced the fruit onto the trays and it worked well. A tray for fruit leather was included, too.
My first night with the new appliance was spent slicing one tray of apples for it. I let it run all night, opened it the next morning and —
everything was immediately eaten.
Score!
I have all the trays full of apples, drying as I type. Between batches of dried apple slices, I failed at making pliable fruit leather (my youngest called it fruit crackers), and succeeded in making dried tomatoes. I started Principe Borghese from seed specifically to have drying tomatoes.
I look forward to trying these in a salad or in cooking. I put a few in a wrap sandwich today and they have excellent flavor. I stored a few in olive oil, and the rest are in an airtight bag. Because they are plum sized, they took 5 hours and very little labor to dry. Tell me your experience with drying foods.