Dehydrating pears. Mom brought me pears from her tree. These have been on the dehydrator for 6 hours at 135 degrees. After I peeled, cored, and sliced them about 1/4 of an inch thick I put them in a bowl full of ice water with lemon juice in it. There they sat while I got the dehydrator ready to use. I took them off of the dehydrator to cool, so I could tell if they were dry, but flexible. The dark spots are mostly wet spots. Those will go back to dry. I will check them in about 1 hour.
Peach fruit leather. Mom brought me peaches and apples from her trees also. I put the peaches into boiling water for a minute or two and then put them into a bowl of ice water. The skins slipped right off. After I took out the pits I put them into a bowl of ice water with lemon juice in it. There they sat while I got the dehydrator trays ready. I very very lightly sprayed the fruit leather drying sheets with a nonstick spray. Do not use too much spray. Wipe some off with a paper towel if you need to. Too much spray will make the puree have thin spots or open spots in it. It is kind of like mixing water and oil. One time with too much nonstick spray and you will know what I am trying to say.
I mixed 3 cups of crushed peaches with 2 cups of apple pieces. These have been on the dehydrator for 6 hours at 135 degrees. The dark spots are wet areas. I will check them again in about 1 hour, but I think it will take at least 2 more hours to dry. I pureed everything in the blender. I turned the blender on to the lowest speed possible. When the fruit on top was not being pulled to the bottom I turn the blender on high just long enough for the fruit on top to start mixing in. Now that this fruit leather is almost dry I notice that it is not as thin as the strawberry rhubarb fruit leather was. I think that blending everything on low kept out a lot of the air bubbles.
