Pears are in abundance locally. We’ve received boxes of them from our doctor and from friends. Then I am also able to buy fun varieties of local, organic pears from a local farm for 50 cents per pound.
We’re eating gobs of the fresh pears, because this is the best time to eat them — during their season.
The rest, I am preserving. On Friday, I made 4 quarts of unsweetened pear sauce using Bartlett pears. I would have preferred to dehydrate the very ripe pears that made this sauce, but we were headed out of town and wouldn’t be around to facilitate a 2-day dehydration.
Now that we are back home and more pears have ripened, I began dehydrating about 20 Bartlett pears. My dehydrator only has 3 trays, so I’m limited to that. I have a book — Dry It, You’ll Like It! by Gen MacManiman (1974) — with plans for building one’s own. That’s a dream of mine, to have Jeff build a large dehydrator for our family.
I’m going to take advantage of the pear season this year by ordering more of them from that local, organic farm. I don’t want to can many, as the nutrition is much less that way, but would like to dehydrate lots for snacking and rehydrating over the winter. I am dehydrating at 95 to 100 degrees, so as to protect the viability of the pears.
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What a glorious abundance God has blessed you with! Wonderful!
Produce here is, well…. lousy. Because of the drought. Perhaps we will get some lettuces and fall veggies going now that the rain has come.
I have dried pears before, but when I dry them at that temperature I find that I have to store them in the freezer, perhaps that’s because we live in such a warm area, don’t know.
What all do you do with the dried pears?
Sylvia, I’ve never had an abundance like this to dehydrate before. I was planning to store them in the freezer. I do that will all dried fruit as a measure of protection. We will eat them as snacks in the off-season.
I’m sorry the drought has affected your growing season. That is frustrating. And prices are so high to buy elsewhere. I am totally relying on awesome deals and the gifts of blessed gardeners until we can grow our own goodies.
You probably may not want/need another book on dehydrating food, but I use this one: The Hungry Hiker’s Book of Good Cooking. It’s fabulous. All of the recipes are crafted with a mind to backpacking; I’ve used a lot of them just regular camping. But there is also extensive information on dehydrating food, and different methods to help with preservation. Plus, it’s just an interesting read.
I always love a good read! I will look for it today at the library — I hope they have it! Thanks for sharing, Karen.
I’m back to say that the library doesn’t have it! 🙁 I looked at the online catalog. I’ll watch for it though at the bookstore where I shop for used books.
Wardee,
How did you prep your pears to dry?
How long does it take?
Thanks!
Tina