Ricki’s Dehydration Station
Ricki is not only the Cheese Queen – she’s the Royal Dehydrator. In the last few years, she has dried apples, peaches, bananas, pineapple, tomatoes, kale and just about every herb there is. Now, at the end of the growing season here in New England, she’s busy dehydrating about a million pears.
Why pears?
Over 40 years ago, when they first bought the house, Ricki planted a pear tree. A few years later, it was yielding more fruit than she could possibly eat.
This is Ricki’s method of bringing them into the house.
The easiest solution was to use a dehydrator. She bought a large one from a company called Garden Way, which later closed (in 2001).
The first step is to make sure the pears are ripe. Ricki uses her thumb to lightly press into them. If there is any give at all, she goes ahead and slices them.
After that, she slices the pears, spreads them out on drying sheets and waits until they are done.
This one came out in the shape of a heart.
When they dry out, the sweetness in the pears becomes intensified. Some fruits and vegetables are as sweet as candy when they are dehydrated.
Ricki packs hers in jars and puts them out at dinner parties.
They’re local, organic, non GMO, vegan, etc. and they’re gone in a flash! (They wouldn’t be worth all this effort if they weren’t absolutely delicious!)
