I know, lame right? How many times can I tell you how to dry fruit? Yes, yes, Kaela, we get it; slice it and stick it in the dehydrator. Wait awhile. Eat. But if you were flying to Calgary in 3 days (3 days!!) to get married, and spend a month honeymooning in British Columbia, and subsequently had 7,000,000,000,000 things left to do before you left… you’d not find a lot of time for making nectarine chutney either.
So, yes, this is a lame post, but honestly, it never would have occured to me to dry nectarines (or peaches for that matter) if I had not had 5 pounds of nectarines languishing in the fridge, and no time to make the chutney I had planned. In a moment of desperation I sliced ’em up and tossed ’em in the dehydrator, figuring I would test it out. And you know what? Dried nectarines are awesome. Tart, chewy, tangy with a hint of sweetness; we’ve been munching on them non-stop since they came out of the dryer, and now I’m wishing I had time to get more nectarines and dry another batch so we have some leftover for granola, yogurt, oatmeal and easy snacks. I love it when poor time management yields delicious results!
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Dried Nectarines
INGREDIENTS
- fresh nectarines, with peel
METHODS
- Wash, halve, pit and slice nectarines (I got about 6 slices per half), laying them individually, without touching, on the trays of a dehydrator, or on baking sheets. Dry in the dehydrator at 135 degrees F for 12-18 hours, or in your oven as low as it will go (range is usually 150 – 200 degrees F) and start checking at 8 hours. A little oil spray will make it easier to remove the dried fruit from the dehydrator trays or baking sheets. About 5 lbs of nectarines filled 3 dehydrator trays and yielded about 2 and 1/2 cups of dried fruit.
- Us in homemade granola, in muffins or scones, in yogurt or oatmeal, rehydrated in a marinade or dressing, in cookies or biscotti, or solo as a snack!
OPTIONS
- As usual, peaches would work here as well.
- Tossing the nectarine slices with lemon juice (or citric acid bath, or vinegar) will prevent some of the browning that happens naturally during drying.
STORE
In air-tight bags or containers for up to 6 months. Rumor has it they stay fresher for longer in the freezer, but I haven’t tried it.
SEASON
Summer.
localkitchenblog.com 
Well, I had no idea you could dry nectarines. Off to dispatch the 5 pounds that is sitting on my counter now. Thanks a ton.
I finally dried a bunch of nectarines and they turned out beautifully. I didn’t dip them in a citric acid bath and the color is gorgeous. The best part is that when the nectarines were fresh they were mealy and kind of gross. But there’s no sign of it when they’ve been dried.
I’ve also been jamming and canning up a storm lately which is new for me. Your blog has been a major source of guidance and inspiration. Thank you so much.
I am going to try this now, as Cindy mentioned my nectarines are very mealy as well. Kinda dampened my plans to devour them whole. This looks like a great fix without adding all the calories of putting them in a pie. (although that would taste yummy too 🙂
I love dried nectarines! I have a question though: I put the dried pieces in a jar to condition for a few days before vacuum sealing for longer term storage. After a few days, I opened the jar to eat a few, and they gave off an odor…not rotten, but fermented maybe? I am not sure. They taste fine, and I think it might be the fruit giving off some gas in the jar. But I thought I’d see if you experienced the same thing. Don’t want to get sick if they are going bad already…
Found this at last! Been needing a way to oven dry some nectarines and couldn’t find anything that wasn’t with a food dehydrator.
How do you make hem come out chewy..not all dry