Pink Lady...star of the orchard!

Pink Lady is the star of the orchard right now!  

The following 3 pictures are all Pink Lady.  We have plenty left with half a mature row still available.

 

 Second star of the orchard would be Gold Rush.  Lots of these nice apples left too.

 

 No picture of Granny Smith but we have lots of these left on the 2 short rows.  (Skip the main long row and look for the 2 short rows just next to it.)

We have 2 rows of Rome and there are apples on the far end of each. 

A decent amount of Braeburn left.  There is quite a bit in the  far southeast corner of the orchard out by the road.  In the main young row of Braeburn, there are a little left at the south end, but you will find more in the corner area that I just talked about.

You will still find some Jonagold out there.  They have been hanging awhile so they are definitely ripe but still have a nice crisp crunch to them.

Also available are Fuji, Red Delicious, and a little Golden Delicious.

So we still have a nice selection out there.  Just have to walk to the ends of the rows to find them!

Dehydrating apples...to be continued...

To continue you on with our dehydrating apple talk, we received some good advice from Elise, who has quite a bit of experience with drying.  Thought you would like to hear from her experience.  Thank you for sharing Elise!

 1. Use a variety of apple that works well in your "peeler". Oversized apples are a pain to peel by hand and by picking varieties that fit your peeler you will cut down on the work by a HUGE amount.

2. Use as ascorbic acid (500 mg vitamin C pills with no additives) as a good replacement for fruit fresh or pineapple juice to prevent browning.  I use 6-8 tablets dissolved in a container of cold water and throw the whole sliced and peeled apples in and then cut them in rings when I pull them out to put on the tray.

3. I dry my apples to the brittle or near brittle stage because I happen to like them that way and there is little chance of them having hidden slices that are damp enough to cause problems.  I store them in the food saver vacuum sealed bags and then toss in freezer-just to be safe.

4. I use dried apples in muffins and take the frozen apples directly from freezer and beat'em with a rolling pin to shatter into small shards.  Throw the shards in cool water to cover and plump up, then add to muffins.  Wonderful added to bran muffins along with raisins, pecans to make a hearty and nutritious muffin!

5. My dog loves dried apples as a training "treat"