Dehydrating Pears . . .
While the beetroot was cooking I prepared the pears for dehydrating. I like to slice mine lengthwise as this gives us a good sized piece to snack on, plus in my opinion there is less waste. Using a very sharp knife, I cut half centimetre slices. When I get nearer to the middle I have a cute we tear shaped cutter that works perfectly for taking out the core. If there are only a few pips I use my trusty old apple corer - want not waste not lol. Then I place them on the dehydrator trays, alternating tops and bottoms to get more on. Ensure that none of them are touching as this will inhibit drying. As these Taylor Gold pears are so large I only get two to a tray. Once all 12 trays were filled, I placed them into my dehydrator. Last year I upgraded my old Harvest Maid to a new Biochef Savana. Even though it is much quieter than my old one, it is still relegated to the laundry as some produce like tomatoes or onions are quite smelly while dehydrating. However, when I have a lot of dehydrating to do I still bring out the Harvest Maid and have both going. I made the mistake of buying a second Harvest Maid on Trade Me and it only did a few loads before the motor stopped working - grrr a waste of money. I was recommended the Biochef by a friend and I haven’t looked back simply love it, especially for fruit leathers, the square trays hold so much more. As the second Harvest Maid was a bigger model than mine, I couldn't use the trays so they were relegated to the workshop as drying trays.
Initially I put fruit in the hydrator at 65° for 2 hours and then turn it down to 55° for a further 7 hours. Fruit takes between 6 to 10 hours to dry depending on the type/size and moisture level. Once the pears had cooled I popped them into a storage jar. I love how some of the outside slices dry into a heart shape.
The lucky chickens got the few scraps.
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