Dried Apples

I'm sorry but this post is going to be more story than recipe.  Mostly because there isn't much of a recipe for drying apples (Slice and put on the food dehydrator, then wait until dry).  Hopefully you still read the rest of the post now that I gave away the recipe.

LJ and I have been drying fruit for the last couple of years in the summer.  We have been able to secure a large amount of free or nearly free fruit from LJ's parents who are in the farming business.  Occasionally we've had to pick the fruit ourselves, but contrary to popular belief, I am able to do manual labor without breaking out with hives.

LJ's parents were nice enough to plant three Granny Smith apple threes in their orchard and they have been affectionately known as "Seth's trees" ever since because of my love for that specific variety.  Each year I end up with the bulk of the apples that those three trees produce (they are getting closer to full maturity now so their tart goodness gets spread to a few more people).  Since the apples won't last forever (we don't have cold storage in our apartment, though some might think so since the heat is rarely on during the winter) we end up drying the bulk of them to snack on throughout the year.

Our food dehydrator is a hand-me-down from my Grandma G (That isn't a fake name.  When we were growing up my brothers and I called our Grandmas, Grandma G and Grandma M.  They were not international spies, as far as I know).  I have strong affection for my food dehydrator, not just because it came from my Grandma (I do need to learn how to make her dried pears because they were one of the best things I've ever eaten), but also because of box that it is in and the memory it always brings back to the front of my mind.

On the top flap of the box my Grandma wrote "Bought in Sept. 1985, Sav-Mart, Wenatchee."  Now I do love Sav-Mart in Wenatchee (mostly because of the running joke in my family about how my mom always wondered why all their spring garden plants were never stolen from the parking lot) but that is not what makes me sentimental every time I see it.  

My youngest brother, Glen, was born in September of 1985.  The day of his birth is one of my earliest memories, and it also involves my Grandma G.  I remember waking up on a Sunday morning and my parents weren't home.  Grandma G had come up, she just lived a few blocks down the street, and was going to take my middle brother and I to church that morning.  I remember her announcing to everyone at the church that my parents were in the hospital and we were going to have a new younger brother.  I remember a few days later when my dad took my middle brother and I to the hospital to pick up Glen and my mom.  I remember walking through the hospital, bouncing off the walls with excitement.  Not because I had a new baby brother, but because my dad had rented a limo to take us all home in.  When my mom tells the story she mentions that she couldn't figure out why we were so excited to get outside until she saw the limo waiting for her.

I'm hoping the food dehydrator lasts for another 25 years, just so I can keep opening the box and be reminded of my Grandma G and Glen.