Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 285 kcal | 81 kcal |
| Protein | 2 g | 0.6 g |
| Fat | 0.5 g | 0.1 g |
| saturated | 0.1 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrate | 60.5 g | 17.2 g |
| sugars | 49 g | 13.9 g |
| Fibre | 15.5 g | 4.4 g |
| Sodium | 5 mg | 1 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2.7 kg fresh pears (about 15 medium)
- Lemon juice
Instructions
- Use pears that are ripe but still firm at the shoulder. A pear goes from hard to grainy in about a day, and the window in which it slices cleanly and tastes of anything is narrow.
- Peel them or do not, but be consistent across a batch. Skin slows water leaving, so a mixed tray of peeled and unpeeled slices will never finish together.
- Quarter them, then core with a teaspoon and take out the gritty patch at the base as well. Those stone cells are unpleasant in a dried slice in a way they are not in a fresh one.
- Slice evenly, remembering that a pear is wedge-shaped — a slice from the neck is much thinner than one from the belly. Sort them into two piles if the difference is obvious.
- Dip the slices in the lemon and water mixture and lift them straight out again. A long soak waterlogs the flesh, while a dip is all the acid needs to hold the colour.
- Shake each slice off before it lands on the tray. Pear is sticky, and solution left on the surface glues it to the mesh.
- Dehydrate at 57 °C for 12 hours, turning the slices once they lift freely so the undersides get the same air as the tops.
- They are done when a cooled slice is leathery and pliable with no beads showing on a torn edge. A slice that feels cool and tacky through the middle is holding juice and goes back on.
- Condition the cooled slices in a loosely lidded jar for a week, shaking it each day, then seal it. Kept dark they hold a year, and any condensation on the glass during that week sends the whole jar back to the trays.
