13
Potatoes Wash, peel, and cut or slice as desired;
steam blanch. Rinse under cold water
and pat dry before placing on tray(s).
Note: If you wish to leave the skin on, you
must wash and scrub the potato and remove
all the eyes and scars with the tip of a potato
peeler or paring knife.
Tomatoes Wash and remove stems. Using a ladle or tongs,
dip into boiling water and then into an ice water
bath. You will be able to remove the skin easily.
Cut into halves or quarters.
FRUIT PREPARATION & TREATMENT
FRUIT
Nearly all fruits can be dried at home, but some will require more
drying time than others; the guidelines offered here will help get you
started. It is recommended that you select fruits that are in season
and experiment with those rst.
Preparation
Wash and inspect fruits and remove any bruised or overripe parts.
Peel if desired. Cut larger fruits in half. If the pieces vary too much in
size, slice them to ³/8" to ½" thick for even drying. Smaller fruits such
as grapes and cherries may be dried whole. Remove pits or stones
from fruits such as plums, cherries, apricots, etc. Always peel fruits
that have been articially waxed. Peeling is optional with other fruits
– for instance, dried pear skin tends to be grainy, and peach skin
peels are a little fuzzy.
Most fruits, like pineapples, grapes, strawberries, and plums can be
placed directly on the drying trays as they are prepared. However,
some fruits will turn brown when exposed to air (apples, apricots,
peaches, and pears). Following the guidelines set below, you can
pretreat these fruits to slow this browning and to prevent loss of
vitamins A and C. To pretreat them, the cut pieces should be kept
in a holding solution until you have sufcient fruit to dry.