Apple chips

For those of us who love the crunch and texture of a good chip, this is a tangy and sweet variation, with a lot less oil and salt (none, actually). And a bonus – it makes a great treat or snack, with lots of vitamins. Unfortunately, I plow through them pretty quickly – I can eat a bowl in one sitting (the equivalent of large bag of potato chips!)

This takes prep and drying time – upwards of 15 hours of drying time if you use a dehydrator. I haven’t used the oven technique (baking at a low temperature for several hours), and I don’t add anything to the apples (although you could add add lemon juice or cinnamon).

I just peal (sometimes – they’re ok with the skin left on – up to you), cut and pack them in my dehydrator (I use this one). If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can place the fruit slices in the oven for several hours, or overnight. The chips needs to be sitting for at least several hours at a low temperature. In any case, when you first take them out, they will not be crunchy – they need to cool for about 5 minutes or so.

The only questionable part of this recipe is it may be running up my electrical bill when I use it a lot. And I keep mine in the garage because it’s a bit noisy and does heat up the surrounding space to some degree. But think of all the things you can make in a dehydrator: jerky, dried herbs, fruit, yogurt, chips, and so on. I guess you could dry clothing and other stuff in it also. No smelly socks though!