Drying to eat you!

Pardon the excruciating pun! I've just completed a two week temp assignment covering the reception for one of the global companies that have made Melksham home, this is bizarre in itself, and bear with my whilst I go off on a little tangent - Melksham is a hot bed of specialised global industries - who would have thought it!

Anyhoo as I persevere with my healthier lifestyle I know I needed to make sure I did not succumb to sweets and crips to idly graze on and instead give myself a healthier choice. Cue a trip to Frome Saturday market.

There is a great fruit and veg stall at the market who sell produce by the tray and in all honesty the produce is keenly priced and needs to be used quickly. Gorgeous hubby and I came home having loaded the car with fabulous tomatoes, pineapples and Gambian mangoes. The tomatoes have been made into a fabulous pasta sauce already portioned and frozen and ready when we are. But it's the fruit I want to share with you.

I love kitchen gadgets and one of the great things of having worked in hotels you get to know which ones work. Some years ago I bought myself a food dehydrator. I got mine at domu.co.uk. This piece of kit slowly dehydrates fresh produce by blowing warm air (general between 50C and 60C) through the shelves holding the fruit.

You slice the fruit really quite thick 3 to 5mm otherwise it dries out into nothingness. Lay out the fruit on the drying shelves and leave it to do it's job. It's equally good with beetroots and parsnips and I've added spices like cinnamon to apples to create a lovely autumnal fruit crisp mix.

I've just finished another batch because my next temp assignment is a hotel in Oxfordshire, and I need to keep myself on the straight and narrow because holidays are looming large in August!

#Recipe #Bargains #Food #Fitness #ESWIL