We have such a wonderful plum tree. We dry plu
ms every year and some friends said they wanted me to write more about dehydrating fruit.
We have figured out how many plums will fit on each dehydrator tray. If you cut them about twice as thick as a quarter.
Count how many plums fit on each tray and multiply by the number of trays you have. Only pick that much fruit to dry as the fresher the fruit, the better it is to cut and dry.
Wash the fruit. Slice it and place on a tray not over
lapping but touching at the sides to fill the tray. Let it dry to your dryers specs flipping them half way through the dry time. I usually am able to combine two trays into one after they have dried overnight to let them finish drying so I can start a few more on the empty trays.
lapping but touching at the sides to fill the tray. Let it dry to your dryers specs flipping them half way through the dry time. I usually am able to combine two trays into one after they have dried overnight to let them finish drying so I can start a few more on the empty trays.I listen to books on tape while I cut up the food. It keeps me entertained and makes the work go faster. I also listen to them while I cook dinner. I get through a few books a week in the fall when there are lots of things to dry.
Once the plums are dry, place them in a Tupperware container. Make sure to label them on the side or top with the date and item. I usually write where the fruit came from along side. If it is mine, I know it is pesticide free. If I get a box of fruit from the store, it most likely has pesticides. I try to give my kids the pesticide free fruit.
My youngest ate almost a whole tray of the half dried plums today telling me that 
it tastes just like fruit roll-ups. Dried plums are one of my personal favorites along with green plums and nectarines. Fresh pineapples is also WONDERFUL dried. I still don't understand why they put sugar on the pineapple they sell dried in the store as it is so sweet on its own.
it tastes just like fruit roll-ups. Dried plums are one of my personal favorites along with green plums and nectarines. Fresh pineapples is also WONDERFUL dried. I still don't understand why they put sugar on the pineapple they sell dried in the store as it is so sweet on its own. Hope you enjoy your dried plums as much as we enjoy ours.
I have a box of plums I'm thinking of drying. A friend gave us a dehydrator with no trays so I have no idea how I'm going to do it and Cliff doesn't have time to make me some trays yet. Can I do it in my oven?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the type of dehydrator. I guess you could make a tray for any type but if it is round, you may have a hard time. You could put legos in between sheets of plastic canvas and wrap the entire thing with plastic and the legos would keep the plastic off each other but you need air flow. I would put an add on a local facebook yardsale page or on the local papers classified section asking people to call if they have a dead dehydrator and you want to buy the trays. The trays are VERY expensive new. I'm thinking for as much as I dehydrate, I should make one out of an old fridge and put a heater and fan it it. Probably worth the effort if you have lots of fruit trees.
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