Apple and cinnamon fruit leather / dried apples

A couple more preserving experiments with my haul of somewhat bruised, needing-to-be-eaten apples, to add to the apple chutney, apple jam, and apple, treacle and caraway muffins I already made with them...

I dried some in the conventional manner (in my dehydrator), and tried some just as they were (peeled, cored and sliced ~20 mm thick), and some where I dipped them in ascorbic acid solution aka pineapple juice before drying (both times dried ~140F for ~6 hours). I didn't expect to find a difference, and it is not huge, but I think I do like the juice-dipped ones best.

I also tried out making fruit leather. I filled a pan with chunks of peeled, cored apples (and the juice of half a lemon), covered and simmered, stirring occasionally, until they were soft. Then liquidised using a wand blender. I took the plastic sheets that came with the dehydrator (without holes), and greased them lightly with oil. Then spread the apple puree out across the sheets, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm. I did some just as it was, and the rest I mixed in cinnamon before spreading it out. It dried in approx 6 hours @ 140F. It is just like leather, texturally, and tastes quite intense and appley. I think I like the cinnamon one best - adds another flavour dimension, and some sweetness.

Big thumbs up from S - he discovered these a week later on a self-described snack quest when I was out, and made sure to tell me how much he liked them later.

I also tried liquidising raw apples and then drying those. These worked reasonably well, but the texture of the cooked apple version was better - think because the puree was itself smoother and thicker before drying it could be spread out thicker and dried more evenly. Taste-wise both are good. But we did a blind taste test of the two versions and found the uncooked version to have a better, more intense taste. So, need to figure out a way of intensifying the thickness (adding a second layer of apple puree after a hour or two of drying?), but otherwise go with uncooked.