I love eating dried fruit and I love drying fruit. There is nothing like the smell of dried cinnamon apples in your home that makes it smell like LOVE. A dehydrator is an easy and cheap way to preserve summer/autumns local harvests for the colder months to come(if you don't eat them all in the first week!) Thats the real challenge I we have around here. I have a friend of our farm that preserves plums, peaches, pears and apples and he reports his teenagers eat all the dried fruit in a night if he doesn't hide it.
We use a large Cabelo food dehydrator and let them dry all night at 160 degrees(roughly 12 hours for apples/peaches/plums and 24 hours for pears). But I know many people use their ovens or a smaller dehydrator and that also works out great. The smaller you slice the fruit the faster it is going to dry. We use the apple, peeler/corer to make the apple rings and then place them in dehydrator(for the cinnamon apples I coat in cinnamon and sugar) I do not use any chemicals, additives or preservatives. All the dried fruit you buy in the store are covered in sulfites. If you want to stop the amount of additives you are eating consider drying your own fruit.
My favorite fruits to dry are italian prune plums, peaches, cherries, apples and pears. Come by the stand for a free sample of our fried fruit or to discuss drying fruit with myself or my mom. When we I was a kid my mom used to also make homemade fruit leather. That was such a treat growing up. So many fond memories eating dehydrated fruit as a kiddo on the farm. Dried fruit is Candy! You are welcome to dry with the peelings on as well for more fiber but most children prefer no peeling.
October is the perfect season to turn your ovens on or food dehydrators. Your home will smell absolutely amazing and will be so warm and cozy. Our farm stand is open till the end of the month and then open for self serve. I invite you to come by and pick up some local fruit that you can enjoy all year long. xoxo your grateful farmer, Trina