How To: Dry fruit from your garden

Curtis Smith of Southwest Yard and Garden show viewers how they can dry fruit from their garden. First, you need to wash your hands before handling your fruit. To wash your hands you want to remove any jewelry, wet your hands, lather your hands and rub them together for 20 seconds and rinse. Dry them on a clean towel so you don't recontaminate. You can dry fruit in your oven if you don't have a dehydrator by setting your oven on the lowest setting, 150 degrees F, and leaving the oven open until your fruit is dried. You can also dry fruit outside by using a food grade safe plastic or stainless steel. Cove it with cheese cloth to prevent insects and freeze this for at least 72 hours. For apples, to prevent them from turning brown, you can cover them in lemon juice. First, slice apricots, peel them and put them in a solution of fruit fresh and water or vitamin C. Use 6 500 mg tablets of Vitamin C to one glass of cold water, smash them and mix. Now, slice the fruit in half, twist, remove and seed. Now, cut your fruit into very thin slices, about one quarter inch thick. All the slices of anything should be the same time so they dry at the same time. Put the slices back into the solution so they don't turn brown either. Now, drain your fruit and place them on the screen. Make sure you leave space between each piece of fruit. Allow these to dry in your screen and enjoy your dried fruit! You will always want to put these in the freezer after so they can be stored for a longer time.