canpaddle wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2006 at 9:51pm:


Dried apples are some of the best snacks avaliable to man.

The store bought dried (dehydrated ) apples are usually soft and made with apples that lack taste.

The ones I do my self are a better.  I have tried a veriety of apples the ones that work the best are Granny smiths.  When dehydrated they can be very crisp (if cut across the grain) to a semi-chewy state.  They retain a tartness.  The worst problem with dehydrated apples is they are like potatoe chips.  You can't eat just one. AND if you eat a whole bag you better have plenty of water on hand and TP.

The Honey Crisp is bred specifically for winter hardiness, so it can survive in the Northern tier and Canada.  I like Stayman variety out this way.  Whatever happened to Jonathans? I haven't seen them for a while.

But, I won't lug fresh apples knowingly on canoe trips.  We once had a Aitikokan outfitter supply and pack our gear and food for a scout troop.  Although we selected our choice of meals, and one choice was called "shore lunch" to be use with our fish catch.  We didn't realize until the end of the trip that we were lugging sacks of potatoes, onions and apples over grueling portages the entire trip.  But, we fried up the potatoes and onions and they were the best tasting item we'd seen in days.  Although I love crisp, cool apples; the apples from the trip didn't fair too well in mid summer.  I prefer the dried variety fruit on canoe trips.

I live in La Crescent, the Apple Capital of Minnesota.  We have many orchard stores selling a huge variety of the freshest, crispest apples ever!!!  And, Yes, we have Honeycrisp!  That is one of my favorites.  I just bought a 10# bag on Friday.

I take a few fresh apples with me on canoe trips. They need no refrigeration ... at least not for several days.  I would not slice them or freeze them for a trip.  Perhaps dry them.

If you're freezing for home use, as in for pies or apple crisp, etc., then you need to blanch them.

Totally agree!     We can get Honeycrisp in Michigan now and it is heavenly!  I have never in my life been excited about eating an apple until now!

Having Fresh Apples is worth the wt. Especially the new Honeycrisp from good ol MN. If you havent had one, once you have one you would think it a Federa offense to dry them.

cedarboy

I've got a number of apple trees and usually have much too much fruit in the fall.  I use a lot of the apples fresh but I have found that if you slice the apples and bag them in freezer bags with sugar and lime juice that they stay crisp in the freezer and are ready for pies just by defrosing them, I don't know if it makes a difference but I don't peel my apples.  I dehydrate a lot of apples and store the dehydrated apples for snacking, I don't like them in baked goods.

dried apples are like any other dried fruit.  They can be purchased at most grocery stores and certainly at places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.  We get ours at the local health food store, as they usually contain fewer additives.  They are often in fruit mixtures, but they can be bought by themselves.  They aren't crisp like a fresh apple, but then I can't imagine that an apple that had been frozen would be crisp either.

I have to ask but what are dried apples? Are they what comes with the other fruit and stuff in a bag? I guess I really dont know.
canpaddle

I have heard that lemon juice works for this but I have never heard about the salt.  Mc donalds serves apples in a bag now and they are always fresh looking... who knows what they put in those to keep them from going brown 

No, I'll generally take dried apples.

flp