fruit leather report

Lurker.DeleteThis@The.Threshold wrote:
> On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:16:37 GMT, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Aaron wrote:
<snip>
>>>>I bought a dehydrator today. I'm gonna have to dehydrate a
>>>>looooooooot of apricots to make the dehydrator cost less than the
>>>>dried apricots I buy annually. But it appears I have a tree that will
>>>>be producing pounds and pounds of apricots annually...
>>>>
>>>>I have trouble finding dried fruits with no sulphate. Maybe I'll
>>>>start drying my own. ;>
>>>
>>>
>>>A coworker had a dehydrator they were not using and wanted to get rid
>>>of, now we have a dehydrator we are not using, but not ready to get rid
>>>of, yet. We want to try it before we bye-bye it.
>>
>>Well, apricots don't seem to be too hard to dry. :>
>
>
> But do they dry too hard?

(hardee-har-har)

Nope. Which has me worried that I'm not drying them enough.
But I'm following the directions in the book -- I rip a
sample, cooled apricot open to see if "moisture beads along
the tear". If not, time to turn the machine off.

Pretty decent way to turn a bigbig bowl of apricots into a
small-ish bag of something that will, theoretically, store
for months.

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/

Rhino 7 wrote:

>> Did you pre-treat with sodium bisulphite? I believe
>> that's what the commercial people do.
>
> No ma'am. And I only tried it once, not being happy with
> the results. I ended up using it much more for herbs.

There's an idea!

Assuming my herbs survive the current heat wave. My thyme,
at least, is doing well! I'm so pleased -- I spent *hours*
digging weeds out of that small patch of dirt last winter,
and am pleased as punch to see my creeping thyme taking over
half the patch, and edible thyme slowly mounding over the
other half.

Now I just need to keep the Bermuda grass from migrating
back into my thyme patch.

I'll have to try drying thyme, after the apricots give out.

>> That means I'm already used to, ah, a firm texture in
>> my dried fruit, and I prefer it that way. :>
>
> Well, with braces and a dislocated (kinda) jaw, i'm
> sticking to soft stuff for the most part. Crunchy I can
> manage from time to time, but chewy is right out. <wink>
>
Braces?? Jaw damage? Have you been beating up Imperial
Stormtroopers again?

I know a lady who spent a few months on a liquid diet, while
waiting for an operation to fix some internal organ. Am
reliably informed that most things can be blendered into
drinkability, though some flavors suffer. (Cake, for
instance, is not much fun after a trip through a blender.
The fun of a nice steak suffers.)

Any week now I may try another nice melon soup recipe. Thus
far this summer, I keep eating the melons straight without
getting as far as making soup...

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/