Dehydrated Crab Apples

My neighbor has a beautiful crab apple tree that was covered with apples earlier this fall.  Not wanting them to fall on his lawn, he was happy to share.  Not wanting them to go to waste, I googled how to make crab-apple jelly and gave it a shot.  Several jars of jelly later, and there were still tons of crab apples.  So I decided to try dehydrating them.

Looking back, I am not sure it was worth the effort.... it takes a lot to prep these little fruits.  On the other hand, the results are very pretty and they have a yummy sweet-tart taste.

Ingredients:
Crab apples
3 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp agave or maple syrup

Directions:
Gather the crabapples (I went for the best looking and largest ones to get the most "meat" on them).  Wash them in water and then cut off both the flower and stem ends.  At this point slice them into rounds and use a toothpick to push out the seeds.

Combine about 3 cups of water with lemon juice and sweetener.  Add sliced crabapples to soak.  This prevents browning and adds another dimension of flavor to the apples.  I soaked them for 10 - 15 minutes.

Layer the apples on the dehydrator trays and dry according to dehydrator directions.