Fresh Crisp Empire apples being prepared for the drier.

After polishing the apples on my shirt, I pop the first apple on and turn the crank. The peeler carves the skin off in a long string as the apple feeds into the corer, producing a nice spiral sliced apple. I cut the spiral down the side and deal the slices into the drying racks. The skin goes into a bowl and is immediately snapped up by the kids who eat it one long strand at a time.

I used to soak the apples in "Fruit Fresh" before laying them on the rack so they wouldn't turn brown. But I quit that as it was just an extra step and no one seems to care either way. Sometimes I sprinkle cinnamon on them for an extra treat.

When the racks are full I turn the drier on and leave it overnight. One must be careful though. Not only do the slices shrink, but many disappear altogether, even though I post the kids on guard against apple thieving leprechauns. After eight or ten hours the apples are dried to a crisp texture. I sort them, putting the perfect ones in a Ziploc and save them for my next outing. The "culls", broken or otherwise substandard, go into a jar on the counter, which gets emptied faster than a cookie jar.

I'll tell you, there's nothing like sitting on warm rock by the river on a sunny spring day munching on a handful of sweet crisp apple slices. About 24 apples go into one gallon sized ziplock, enough for a month of wilderness paddling. They'll last for months and months. The apple peeler can be found in any kitchen gadget shop and the drier from your local department store.