This is a WONDERFUL time of year to “put up” food because so much of it is fresh and readily available. These peaches were FREE from a tree in my mother’s yard. She had about twice this many and sent me these for my own preserving. Today, I’m getting another box about this big as well. With peaches, tomatoes, and sales I find on Ground Beef whenever I can, my dehydrator has been going nonstop this week. But we need to get it while we can and put it up for when we need it later!
Here is how I dehydrate peaches. It is very simple but truly, dehydrating is one of the simplest and old fashioned ways to preserve a harvest of most any kind. I especially love that once it is done, the food doesn’t take up any room in my refrigerator or freezer.
Note: As soon as I got these peaches out of the dehydrator I found ground beef on sale and loaded up the dehydrator with that. After posting some photos on instagram, I had some questions from folks wondering how to dehydrate beef. Please click here if you’d like to watch my video on doing just that.
Now let’s get started!
MY LATEST VIDEOSYou’re gonna need some peaches…
And you might need some lemon juice.
That’s it.
Actually, you can even skip the lemon juice if you want.
I generally do not pretreat my fruit before dehydrating. That includes apples, bananas, and even peaches. Pretreating can help lessen browning (I haven’t seen much of a difference though) but browning is a cosmetic thing and that doesn’t bother me. I am doing it in this case because I don’t know when I’ll get around to using these peaches (hopefully in the next two years) and they are going into my “deeper” food storage. When you dehydrate peaches, you lose a little bit of the vitamin C and by giving them a little bath in this mixture first, it adds a little more vitamin C so this helps balance it out.
Don’t want me crew gettin’ scurvy in da middle of winter! Arr!
If you decide to pretreat, mix up a bowl with equal parts lemon juice and water.
This is about 2 cups of the mixture.
Peel and cut up your peaches into slices. Remove and discard any bruises or bad spots.*
You can slice them thick or thin, it is up to you. Usually, when I purchase dried peaches at the grocery store, they are just cut in half and dried. I do mine in slices.
The thicker the slice, the longer it will take to dehydrate, but I don’t think they take a really long time either way.
*Bruises and “bad spots” on fruit are areas that are more susceptible to bacteria so we want to get rid of these before we do our preserving.
As you are peeling and slicing your peaches, just drop them in the lemon juice mixture.
Once you have enough to fill up a dehydrator tray, strain them out and load up the tray!
Like this.
If your’e not pretreating, just peel and slice the peaches and put them on trays.
Yes, these are white peaches. They taste amazing but the color drives my Mama crazy because when folks just look at a dish you baked ’em in, they look like apples.
Keep going until you have all of your dehydrator trays filled and then dehydrate at 135 degrees for 8-12 hours.
Make sure they are dry and then allow to cool completely. Store in mason jars or whatever jumps out at you first from the cabinet.
Now that you have these lovely dehydrated peaches, what do you do with them?
- Eat them as a snack! My daughter loves having “homemade dried food” in her lunchbox at school.
- Make my Great Grandmother Lela’s Fried Peach Pies! (best thing ever!)
- Rehydrate them by covering with water and bringing just to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer until tender and then drain. Use them in any recipe you would use fresh or canned peaches (see recipes below). You’ll find that dehydrated peaches, even once they are rehydrated, retain a greater flavor punch and sweetness that really amps up the peachiness in any dish far more than fresh or canned peaches do.
After rehydrating (using instructions in previous bullet point), make any of these recipes to get ya started!
- Peach Crisp
- Buttermilk Peach Pie
- Make a Peach Cobbler
- Peach Cobbler Muffins
- Fresh Peach Kuchen
- Easy and Eggless Peach Ice Cream
These are just a few ideas. For more dehydrating posts, see below.
- Dehydrating To Save Money and Freezer Space
- Use A Dehydrator To Make Your Own Instant Rice
- Dehydrating To Make Shelf Stable Ground Beef
- Use Your Dehydrator To Make Tomato Chips (Delicious!)
- Make Watermelon Jerky
I have two dehydrators, both are Excalibur. I have used other dehydrators in the past and have found Excalibur to be the most efficient and absolute best for the job. They dehydrate all trays and all sides of every tray faster and more evenly than other ones I have used.
Click on the name or image to get more information about either one. I do feel a dehydrator is a wonderful investment for a family because it will allow you to easily preserve fresh fruits and veggies that you grow yourself, are gifted, or that would have otherwise gone bad before being consumed by ye olde family 🙂 My dehydrator is as important to me as my refrigerator. More so even, because the food I preserve in my dehydrator doesn’t require electricity to remain fresh. And Ricky Campbell, if you are reading this: Yes. Your wife really DOES need a dehydrator 🙂
I love the deluxe models because they have timers on them, which just makes life easier.
Excalibur 5 Tray Deluxe Dehydrator
You can get by with one dehydrator, of course! I added a second this year to help me get things dehydrated during peak harvest season when it sometimes goes bad faster than I can get my trays emptied. We also pass the extra one back and forth among the family as needed.
- Fresh Peaches
- Lemon Juice (optional)
- If you'd like to pre-treat your fruit to lessen browning and increase vitamin C, pour equal parts lemon juice and water into a bowl and stir together.
- Peel and slice peaches, cutting off and discarding any bruises or bad spots.
- If pretreating, place peach slices in lemon mixture after cutting up while you continue to prepare fruit.
- Strain peaches out of lemon juice mixture and load dehydrator trays.
- Dehydrate at 135 for 8-12 hours or until dried. Allow to cool and then store in mason jars or plastic bags until ready to use. Best if kept in a cool, dark place, such as a pantry.
“When you encounter a rock in the stream of life, flow around it and keep on moving.”
~Unknown. Submitted by Virginia LaBore. Click here to submit your favorite quotes!
Yum
Christy, you have me dreaming of a dehydrator now and all those wonderful peach delights!
Christy, just spent the weekend picking, Saskatoons and chokecherries, now have to clean and process them, T he berries can be dried, may have to dpo some that way. We got half a galvanized washtb ( never throw away old things just because the aren’t used) in 6 hours of picking. It reminded me of when we did it when I wss a kid. Wish I had peaches but they don’t grow here.
I just got my Excalibur dehydrator Saturday and I’ve been dehydrating cilantro and basil from my garden. Some late tomatoes and apples are next. I am anxious to try ground beef as well. I love this thing! Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I ordered my dehydrator last weekend from Amazon and it’s due to arrive early next week. I’m so excited! At 53 yrs. old I’m finally going to start dehydrating, and I’m so thankful you’ve been posting some tips and ideas about it. I’m disabled now, so am going to be giving the ground beef a try first (well, okay, after I made some dried fruits for my grandchildren!), for those days when cooking is more than I’m up to. I’m spending my “good” days this summer preparing for the “rough” days ahead! And you’re a huge help to me….God bless you!!!!
I hope you enjoy your new dehydrator Cynthia!!!
I’m in Georgia and we have lots of gorgeous peaches in the stores right now. I dehydrated some last week. I soaked them in a little apple juice then sliced thin. What a lovely intense flavor when dried! (Making homemade peach ice cream for the first time today). Dried some watermelon a few days ago. Wow! Tastes like candy! I bet Excaliber is wondering why all the orders recently! I know I got mine after reading your blog! Thanks so much!
Oh my goodness, I need to come to your house Linde!!! We could sit and snack all day on all of your goodies!!
I am wondering if you can cook and shred chicken for drying too? I have one chicken breast in the freezer, I might have to try it out myself.
I love my Excalibur dehydrator too and use it for everything from the garden to making jerky. Love all the different ways to use it and I love your directions for dehydrating ground beef. Most often onions (Walla Walla Sweets usually) find their way into the dehydrator because it is the only way I can eat onions – the flavor and freshness of my dehydrated onions sure beats that of the onions you can buy in the store!
I was inspired to buy a food dehydrator after reading your tomato chips recipe and watching all the things you have done with your dehydrator. Right now I have pears and blueberries dehydrating. Tomorrow it is time to make more tomato chips (we are out again) then I plan on trying the peaches.
P.S. my tee shirt arrived several days ago fits just right! Thank You and to your momma too!
Debora, did your blueberries dehydrate down to about the size of a BB? So glad you liked your shirt!!!
….Yes they did shrink into little bitty pieces but they sure are tasty! I mixed some up in a jar of dry roasted peanuts yummy. I am going to try making some granola later on I am really enjoying my new dehydrator and all the possibilities! Hope your having a good morning and thanks for the Life Savers inspirations.
Ephesians 2:8
Believe it or not, Michigan grows some amazing peaches! I’m going to have to give this a try. Lord knows I have enough canning jars to stock all my shelves and all your readers’, too. Seems I just can’t seem to let myself let go of a good jar! Christy, do you dehydrate apples the same way? I wonder if melons would work. In our area of Michigan they grow something called a Howell melon. It’s like a super-sweet cantaloupe, but they only last a couple of days after picking.
Drying watermelon works and I’m trying cantelope now! Don’t see why other melons wouldn’t work!
I love my dehydrator and really should use it more often. Just found a great deal on 90% ground beef. 1.98 a pound! Thanks for all you do Christy!
Christy, Do you use the O2 absorbers in your jars of dehydrated food? Thanks for all the information you provide. I would like you to share more info on dehydrating different foods.
I do on somethings JoAnn, it really just depends on how long I need for it to last and what it is.
If one is not lucky enough to have a dehydrator, can I do the same thing in an oven?
You certainly can. It will require more monitoring and a bit more work on your part but it is certainly possible! I don’t have instructions up on how to do that right now but I’m sure they are available online.
my wife used her oven for years to dehydrate until we got a dehydrator, but in smaller batches . you just have to monitor temperature and times closer.