Apricots are Yummy. Fresh or dehydrated, they contain Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potasium, Fiber and many other great things for you. In fact, my mom was just telling me yesterday that Dr. Oz says," apricots reduce the risk of stomach cancer by 47 percent. Eat 7 dried or fresh apricots per day. If you go for dried, get the sundried and not sulfate dried. (the darker version). Also, buy organic apricots because they have higher levels of cancer fighters". So, the next time you're hungry for a snack, think about Apricots. And if eating a plain Apricot or making jam and jelly isn't your thing, how about picking some up from your local farmers market, orchard or even in your own backyard and giving dehydrating a try.

Please Note : The Apricots I am using are from my own tree. I DO NOT spray or treat any of my fruit trees with ANY chemicals of any kind or products what so ever. I believe fresh fruit, should be just that - FRESH!

** There are other methods to dehydrate fruits & veggies, such as your oven and the sun. I prefer to use a dehydrator

Step 1: Selecting Apricots

Make sure you don't use Apricots that are still too green or are over ripe. The too green ones will split & the over ripe ones will mush when trying to turn them inside out. (See pics below)

You want to choose Apricots that have a light yellow-orangish color and are firm but not overly firm. It's ok if they have a teenie tiny bit of green on them, but not overly green like in the picture.

Step 2: Getting Started

You Will Need:

Dehydrator, mine is a Ronco ( you will notice, I have labeled 4 out 5 of my trays for easy reading and for keeping track of rotating)
3-4 pounds of Apricots
knife

Step One:

- With warm soapy water, wash and hand dry all of your trays from the dehydrator (DO NOT wash the base)
- Wash Apricots throughly
- Using your knife, half the apricots & remove the seed (you can throw away the seed or I like to put it in my compost)

Step 3: Placing the Apricots on the Trays

Step Two

- With both hands, use your thumbs & index fingers, turn the Apricot halves inside out ( I know what you're thinking,WHAT???)View Photo's below

- Place inside out Apricot halves on 1st tray making sure to leave space all around each half ( they need the space to properly dehydrate) Roughly 10 apricots fot on each of my trays...depending on size

- Repeat until all of your trays are filled

Step 4: Dehydrating the Apricots

ALWAYS make sure your dehydrator is in a well ventilated area and that it has plenty of space around it as it uses heat to dehydrate the food.

Step Three:

- Open your vents(if applicable)on your lid to correspond to the number of trays you are using or to it's highest number available if using all your trays

- Place on the lid and plug the dehydrator in

- Dehydrate the Apricots for 6-14 hrs rotating trays every few hours while checking the apricots themselves

- When the Apriocts are done, unplug the dehydrator and allow it to completely cool before removing Apricots

- Store your Apricots in decorative jars for gift giving or in a resealable bag making sure remove as much air as possible
ENJOY!