It is October and many of the fruits that ripen in late summer are just ripening. There is about a three week delay in usual time frames, so the race is on to capture as many of the wonderful, fresh fruit off of our trees as we can. Here we have dehydrated pears. If you like chewy candy, gummy bears, gum drops, even caramel, then this is a healthy alternative. Ok, I know I am pushing it with caramel, but these dehydrated pears really are delicious. It takes about 10 hours at 135 degrees to get them dry and there are roughly 20 slices per whole juicy pear.
Nearing the end of the pears to be dehydrated. We use the Excalibur Food Dehydrator that we purchased from Cabelas years ago. There are nine racks with a good fan and various temperature settings to accommodate a broad range of foods.
And, of course, one more pot of garden sauce! This pot has garlic, onions, apples, carrots, eggplant, yellow squash, and many tomatoes topped with fresh basil that will cook down. It is all out of the garden and surprisingly, the garden is ready to ripen another round of tomatoes. The days are cooler, the sky has been cloudy, but the low temperatures are only mid 40 degrees and the high temperatures during the day are nearly 60 degrees. There has been snow in mountains already, but a warm fall is helping us bring in a late canning season!
