Drying Pears

Yesterday I got my dehydrator out for the first time in several months. On our last run to Clarkdale, we heard from the staff there that they expect to close for the season by the middle of this month - rather earlier than last year. They will be selling fruit and cider at Winter Fare on Saturday and anticipate selling out almost all of their remaining stock. So we bought a whole load of apples for drying and making applesauce. It won't be enough to see us through to the summer, but will get us part of the way there, anyway. I don't know whether Apex Orchards will be remaining open longer or not.

Along with the apples, we bought some pears, which Clarkdale still had a few of. I wanted to try drying them, because we are getting low on dried peaches and I think Nate is going to be distraught when they are gone. The pears dried beautifully with no special treatment. I just peeled them, cut them in half and scooped out the core, then sliced 1/4-inch thick and dried for about 7 hours. Their color held and the flavor is great - sweet and concentrated.