Dehydrating Peaches
Dehydrating peaches is a great way to preserve this star of the summer. So many ways you can use them and so little hands on time.
We make at least one batch of dehydrated peach slices every year. They are incredibly easy to do and take up so much less space than frozen peaches do.
Our favorite way to dehydrate peaches is with a food dehydrator. It is usually very hot here in the summer and the last thing we want to do is turn on the oven for hours and heat up the house more.
There are several options when it comes to how to dry peaches. We’ll walk you through each of these.
What you need
- fresh, sweet peaches
- ascorbic acid (if you choose to use it)
Choosing peaches
Really any peach will work but… you’ll make your life a whole lot easier if you choose freestone peaches. This simply means that the flesh falls away from the pit easier.
Clingstone peaches will work but it is hard to remove nice slices from the pit.
We always test peaches that we buy for drying, if we’re not using peaches from our own trees.
Try to find super sweet, perfectly ripe fruit. Under ripe fruit will have very little flavor. Over ripe fruit will be hard to get a pretty slice from.
Dehydrating peaches in your dehydrator
There is much debate over whether to use ascorbic acid or not. From our tests, we’ve found very little visual or flavor differences from those that were treated and those that weren’t. Here are the examples.
The only noticeable difference that we can see between the ascorbated slices and the slices that received no treatment is that the untreated ones look a little drier.
Step One
The easiest way to dehydrate is to wash your fruit well. Rub your hands gently on the outside of the peach to remove as much peach fuzz as you can. If you rub too hard, you can bruise ripe fruit.
You can choose to peel your peaches, or leave the skin on. Obviously, leaving the skin on takes very little effort. Just slice the peaches. Place the slices, in a single layer on the dehydrator racks. and dry them.
To peel peaches
Step Two
If you choose to peel the peaches, it takes a bit more effort.
Score an x on the bud end of the peach with a sharp paring knife.
Step Three
To blanch peaches, place them in boiling pot of water for 30 to 60 seconds until you see the skins loosen.
Step Four
Carefully remove the peaches from the boiling water and place in an ice bath to cool.
Step Five
When cool enough to handle, slip skins off of peaches. If there are any tough spots, scrape the skin with the paring knife.
If blanching seems like too much work, you can also just peel them with a sharp knife.
Step Six
Hold the fruit in your hand and use a small, sharp paring knife to slice into ½ inch wedges. At the end you’ll be left with the pit.
If you’d like to use lemon juice or ascorbic acid to preserve color, add it to another bowl with cold water.
Step Seven
If using the acid bath, be sure to dry the peach slices well with paper towels to remove excess water.
Step Eight
Place slices in a single layer on dehydrator trays.
We use dehydrator sheets to make cleanup easy.
Set temperature to 135°F/50°C.
Dry until no moisture is left. They should be chewy and not pulpy. This should take 8-12 hours, depending on the thickness of your slices.
Let the slices cool thoroughly before storing.
Conditioning your fruit
Conditioning your fruit is an important step in the drying process, so don’t skip this step.
Conditioning is the process of testing the fruit to make sure that it is thoroughly dry.
Even a bit of moisture in a couple of pieces has the potential to ruin a whole batch.
Allow the dehydrated fruits to come to room temperature. Immediately place them into a glass mason jar. Place the jar in a dark area.
Shake the jar daily to break up any stuck pieces. Allow them to stay in the jar for 7-10 days, shaking daily.
If you see any moisture droplets collecting on the jar. You know you have moisture in them.
If you see any evidence of moisture or any condensation in the jar, re-dry the food in your oven or dehydrator. After re-drying condition them again. Once they are fully dry, pack in tight fitting glass jars.
If you see any evidence of mold during the conditioning process. Discard the product.
How to dry in the oven
If you would like them peeled, perform steps two to five above. Then slice peaches. Place a sheet of parchment paper over a cooling rack placed on a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange fruit in single layer.
Turn oven to lowest setting. Usually 155-175°F / 90°C. Place baking sheet in the oven. Prop the door with a wooden spoon or heat safe spatula (for heat and to improve air flow escape.
Dry until the slices are totally dehydrated. This could take anywhere from 6-12 hours.
Let the slices cool thoroughly before storing.
Conditioning your fruit
Conditioning your fruit is an important step in the drying process, so don’t skip this step.
Conditioning is the process of testing the fruit to make sure that it is thoroughly dry.
Even a bit of moisture in a couple of pieces has the potential to ruin a whole batch.
Allow the dehydrated fruits to come to room temperature. Immediately place them into a glass mason jar. Place the jar in a dark area.
Shake the jar daily to break up any stuck pieces. Allow them to stay in the jar for 7-10 days, shaking daily.
If you see any moisture droplets collecting on the jar. You know you have moisture in them.
If you see any evidence of moisture or any condensation in the jar, re-dry the food in your oven or dehydrator. After re-drying condition them again. Once they are fully dry, pack in tight fitting glass jars.
If you see any evidence of mold during the conditioning process. Discard the product.
How to store dried fruit
The best way to store fully dried dehydrated foods is to vacuum pack single serve portions. Vacuum sealing larger portions exposes moisture to the product, from the air, every time the bag is opened.
Food can also be packed tightly into canning jars or other airtight container. The addition of a food safe silica gel pack (affiliate link) will help the foods stay moisture free.
Store them in a cool, dry, dark location for best results for long-term storage.
Perfectly dried fruit will last at least one year.
What to do with dried peaches
- Perfect for a simple, healthy snack for the kids or yourself.
- Add them to yogurt, cottage cheese or hot cereals like oatmeal.
- Add to muffins, quick bread, cakes or cookies.
- Mix them into pancakes or waffles dough.
- Top ice cream or pudding.
- Add to trail mixes or granola to bump up the nutrition.
- Make fruit powders to add to smoothies, frostings, cakes, drinks and more for a burst of flavor.
- Rehydrate the fruit and make pies with them.
To make fruit powder
You can use lemons, limes, oranges or grapefruit to make citrus powder. Make sure that your citrus have been fully dried.
- Break up the fruit with your hands.
- Add it to a blender, spice mill or food processor.
- Pulse a few times to make the pieces smaller.
- Then run continuously for 2 to 5 minutes until you have a fine powder.
- Run the powder through a fine mesh strainer to remove larger pieces.
- Reprocess those larger pieces until fine.
- Store in airtight jars. Use for baking and more. See suggestions above.
Helpful Tools
Dehydrating peaches is an easy job that can benefit you all year long and save you money and time.
More dehydrated fruits
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Dehydrating Peaches
Ingredients
- 1 quart fresh peaches
Instructions
- Wash peaches well. Gently rub the skin to remove some of the peach fuzz.
For untreated, unpeeled
- Just slice peaches into ½ inch / 1.25 cm thick slices.
- Arrange them in a single layer on racks of your dehydrator. To use your oven, arrange the slices on a sheet of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Slide the sheets into the dehydrator. If using oven, heat to lowest heat setting, usually 155-175°F/ 90°C.
- For dehydrator, set temperature at 135°F / 50°C. Set time at 8-12 hours. Start machine. Check after 8 hours. If more time is needed, set timer for more time. It can take 36 hours to dry them or more.
- For oven, set timer to 6 hours. Prop door open with a heat resistant spatula or wooden spoon. The oven gets much hotter than a dehydrator so keep a close eye that they don't burn.
To peel peaches
- Blanching is the easiest way to peel them. Set up a large pot to boil. Set up a large bowl with an ice water bath. (just ice and water) Slice an x into the bud end of the fruit. (opposite the stem)
- Once boiling, carefully drop peaches into water a few at a time for 30-60 seconds. You will see the skin start to loosen.
- Remove them with a slotted spoon and immediately drop into ice water.
- Once cool enough to handle, slip the skins off of the fruit. Slice into ½ inch slices.
- Arrange them in a single layer on racks of your dehydrator. To use your oven, arrange the slices on a sheet of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Slide the sheets into the dehydrator. If using oven, heat to lowest heat setting, usually 155-175°F/ 90°C.
- For dehydrator, set temperature at 135°F / 50°C. Set time at 8-12 hours. Start machine. Check after 8 hours. If more time is needed, set timer for more time. It can take 36 hours to dry them or more.
- For oven, set timer to 6 hours. Prop door open with a heat resistant spatula or wooden spoon. The oven gets much hotter than a dehydrator so keep a close eye that they don't burn.
To treat with ascorbic acid
- When slicing the peaches, slice them into a bowl set up with Fruit Fresh or other brand of ascorbic acid fruit preserver. Refer to manufacturer's instruction on the bottle.
- Once all fruit is sliced, place slices onto the dehydrator racks in a single layer. Dry well with paper towel.
- Then proceed with recipe above.
Conditioning
- This is an important step for food safety, so don't skip!
- Once fully dry, and cooled, place berries in a glass or plastic jar. Place the jar in a dark area. Daily, for 7-10 days, shake the jar to break them apart. If you see any signs of moisture or condensation on inside of the jar, dehydrate them again.
- Once fully dry, condition them again.
- See notes for storage tips.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Notes
- Perfect for a simple, healthy snack for the kids or yourself.
- Add them to yogurt, cottage cheese or hot cereals like oatmeal.
- Add to muffins, quick bread, cakes or cookies.
- Mix them into pancakes or waffles dough.
- Top ice cream or pudding.
- Add to trail mixes or granola to bump up the nutrition.
- Make fruit powders to add to smoothies, frostings, cakes, drinks and more for a burst of flavor.
- Rehydrate the fruit and make pies with them.
- Break up the fruit with your hands.
- Add it to a blender, spice mill or food processor.
- Pulse a few times to make the pieces smaller.
- Then run continuously for 2 to 5 minutes until you have a fine powder.
- Run the powder through a fine mesh strainer to remove larger pieces.
- Reprocess those larger pieces until fine.
- Store in airtight jars. Use for baking and more. See suggestions above.
Nutrition
Originally published August 25, 2022.
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