Preserving the Harvest

... This year, our adolescent pluot tree hit puberty. The tree is still gangly and has a long way to grow, but for the first time it produced more than a plate-full of fruit. With the bounty, Robb made pies. I made jam. We sat in the back yard and gorged ourselves on fruit, fresh from the tree. We invited friends over to pick fruit. And eventually it all started to get away from us. Anyone sitting under the tree risked being clobbered with over-ripe fruit. The lawn furniture was covered in sticky dried fruit pulp. The ground was littered with mushy fruit, which we threw at the hens. The bees were drunk on fruit nectar. Clearly, we needed to get serious about not letting the harvest go to to waste. A few weeks back, Robb ordered a dehydrator. We've been experimenting, trying to find the best method. We've already realized that simply cutting the fruit in half isn't ideal. Our pluots are so juicy that large chunks of fruit take an eternity to dry. I fired up the his