apples

1. What Are Apples and Dried Apple Chips?

apple and apple chips

The apple is a pome which is from the Latin word for apple, a fruit with a papery central cavity surrounding the seeds. Pomes are members of the Rosaceae (rose) family, which also includes pear, crabapple, and quince. The archeological date shows that humans were eating apples as early as 6500B.C. Evidence indicates that the fruit was first cultivated between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Apples are a significant source of pectin fiber (3g per medium apple), and they provide carbohydrates and vitamins while contributing few calories and no fat, sodium, or cholesterol. Apples are made all kinds of snacks because of their advantages, and apple chips are one of the popular apple snacks.
Dried apple chips are chips or crisps that are made by the dryer. Dried apple chips may have a dense and crispy texture, or maybe puffed, yet still crispy. They may be seasoned with cinnamon and sweetened with confectioners sugar. Fat-free dried apple chips are an interesting form of ready-to-eat dried snack food and may be accompanied by various dips and other foods. Dried apple chips may be used in sandwiches and as an ingredient in desserts and sweets, such as cookies. They may also be used as a garnish on dishes.

2. How to Make Dried Apple Chips in Food Processing Factory?

Generally, the automatic production line for producing dried apple chips is set in a food factory, and that includes washing, peeling, coring, slicing, drying, expanding and packing. The apples are washed in the washing tunnel at the first, and go on next step where the clean apples are peeled and cored by apple peeling and coring machine, then fished apples are sliced and ready to dry by drying machine. We will introduce two effective drying equipment which is used widely in a food factory as following: hot air circulation drying oven and vacuum microwave drying machine.

2.1 Make dried apple chips by hot air circulation drying ovens

The drying processing is carried out in a conventional cabinet dryer which adopts hot air circulation drying with high temperature resistant axial flow fan and automatic temperature control system. The drying is the process that the apple slices are heated in the trays with hot air circle, the wet moisture takes out from apple slices will be exhausted outside at the same time. And the apple slices are dried at 105℃for about 120 min generally. Apple slices in the oven can be dried uniformly because of the forced ventilation and adjustable air distributor. Then customers can enjoy the delicious finished apple chips from the market after the dried apple chips are packaged well.

hot air circulation apple drying machine
apple hot air drying oven
dry apple chips in oven
drying apple slices in hot air fruit dryer machine
drying sliced apple in electric drying oven

microwave_vacuum_apple_chips_drying_machine

2.2 Make dried apple chips by vacuum microwave drying machine

Besides that, to improve the quality of the dried products and the process efficiency, microwave vacuum drying could be used. Microwave drying can be used to prepare apple chips with a puffy and crispy texture. Vacuum microwave dehydration offers an alternative way to improve the quality of dehydrated apples. Put the apple slices into the machine, and microwaves penetrate to the interior of the apple slices causing water to boil within the apple slices. This results in a greatly increased vapor pressure differential between the center and the surface of the apple slices, allowing rapid transfer of moisture out of the slices. The moisture is removed from the drying chamber by the water-ring pump, which maintains the vacuum. Therefore, apple chips can be dried rapidly without exposure to high temperatures, and color, flavor, and nutrient properties of apple chips can be largely preserved.

3. How to Make Dried Apple Chips at Home?

Maybe your apple tree was overzealous in production, maybe you bought too many apples thinking you wanted eight apple pies — whatever the reason, you now have a lot of extra apples on your hands. Why not try drying them out? Dried apples are delicious, healthy snacks that can be stored for months. Follow these easy steps to dry your apple chips. It is easy to make dried apple chips in your oven or a food dehydrator at home. Here is how to do homemade dried apple chips:
Ingredients
Some crisp and ripe organic apples, some ground cinnamon according to the practical demand, granulated sweetener of your choice (optional)

Part 1 of 2: Washing and coring apples

Wash the apples firstly. Then you can either cut your apples so that they retain their circular shape, or you can cut them into thin wedges. Again, this is simply based on your own preference, though some say that the thinner the slices, the easier it is to dry the apples. Remove the seeds or the whole core. Peel can be left on or taken off.
Toss the sliced apples with cinnamon and sugar (optional) and arrange in a single layer in your dehydrator or onto a parchment paper-lined baking pan.

Part 2 of 2: Dehydrating apple slices

drying_apple_chips_by_home_dehydrator

Food oven: Preheat the oven to 200ºF. Bake the apples slices for 1 hour, then flip them and allow to bake for another 1 to 2 hours until the chips are no longer moist. Flipping occasionally.
Food dehydrator: Turn the dehydrator to 135ºF. Allow the apples to dehydrate for 6 to 8 hours or until they are dried and as crisp as you want them to be.
Store your apple chips in an airtight container to maintain crispness at the last.