Apples

I've spent the week trying to can 3 bushels of apples. We got it down to what will fit in the produce drawer of the refrigerator...

The dehydrator was filled 2 1/2 times. I think I'll do another load this evening. It is easier to pack some dried apples for a lunch than applesauce. I dried some extra apples yesterday, I was thinking about the pink pearl apples and wondered how they dried. So I tried them, 4 apples;

LIKE EATING CANDY! If only they weren't so expensive, $2.49 @lb here. One reason I enjoyed doing the apples so much;

The help!
This was one of their experiments; Juicing lemons from our tree.(And the only time I got the camera out.) I'd read that putting a teaspoon of lemon juice on the top of each jar will eliminate the top of the applesauce turning brown. So instead of squeezing the lemons we juiced them. It worked. We did them before the apples so we wouldn't have to clean the strainer. Last night we finished and the enthusiasm had waned... just a bit. And the purist had died, we juiced one lemon after the apples and just used a teaspoon of the resulting lemon flavored applesauce for the top bit of each jar. Now I get to figure out where to put the 23 quarts, 6 liters, 5 small jars, and 9 half jars, 3 bags of dried apple slices that we got. :)