Dehydrated Fruit for a Blenderized Diet

I love creating a blenderized diet each morning for Parker.  I try to go organic as much as I can, using as high quality foods as possible.

It can be a challenge to do this on a modest food budget.

But it can be done.

One strategy I use is gleaning.  Gleaning is basically letting people know that after they’ve harvested their own gardens and orchards, you’d be happy to take anything left over.  Gleaning for me is more along the lines of putting out the word that if anyone has more produce than they can use…..I’d love it for Parker’s blenderized diet.  I often offer to trade.  Say fresh corn for my neighbor’s unsprayed peaches.

Gleaning isn’t anything new.  Ruth, from biblical times gleaned.

Ruth 2:3:    “And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field  belongig unto Boaz, who (was) of the kindred Elimelech.”

Last week a neighbor called and offered me her pears that didn’t make it into her canning pot.  They were ripe and need to be preserved now.  That’s another thing about gleaning, you need to be able to change your plans when something is offered to you.

My freezer is  full cherries, peaches, apricots, plums and other great items.  So I decided to dehydrate these pears.  Dehydrating retains as much of the vitamins and minerals as freezing does.

I sliced my peaches using a nice mandolin my Mother gave me for Christmas last year.  I started out with a cheap one from Wal-Mart and lived to regret it.

Once sliced I place them in water spiked with lemon juice.  This helps to preserve them so they don’t turn too brown.  You can also spray lemon juice on them after you’ve put them on the drying trays.

Ready for the dehydrator!

The finished product.  I don’t just dry my produce.  I dehydrate it.  If you were to drop one of these pear slices on the counter you could hear it hit the counter…..kind of like a thick potato chip…..with out the grease.

The way you store your dehydrated produce is important. I either use mason jars that I then vacuum seal, or use food saver bags.

Go ye now and dehydrate! It’s simple. I promise!