Nectarine season

It's fresh fruit o'clock here, and I finally got myself together enough last night to commence on the project of dried nectarines.

My process, such as it is:

* make sure we have a place to set up the dehydrator.
* get the dehydrator out, and make sure it's rinsed off.
* ideally spritz with unflavored cooking oil first, ahaha
* set up an entertainment to listen to during the project
* boil a kettle of water.
* hot water bowl, cold water bowl, nectarine scoop
* blanch the nectarines
* cutting board in clean rimmed baking tray to catch the juices
* cut nectarines into nice dryable pieces, usually getting 3 or 4 slices out of a tidy quarter
* reserve the odd scraps for snacking or mashing, don't fill up too fast on the good slices
* arrange nectarines on drying trays, saving the fruit leather inserts for the wettest and leaving at least one back for the scraps
* mash the uneaten scraps into goo
* spread the goo in a fruit leather tray
* dry them

Since we have a peach-disliker in the house, it is convenient that this time I have set up the dehydrator on the cooktop under the vent, so the whole house does not smell of nectarine the way it otherwise might.

I still have another box left to process, but there are a gratifying number of trays that have been drying overnight, and I had some of the partly-dried nectarine slices for breakfast.

I also had gotten some not-quite-best strawberries yesterday, and when we didn't finish eating them last night, I mashed those up as well with some sugar and I will be accepting constructive criticism of the strawberry leather (if I don't finish it all myself first).

aaaaaghhhhhhhhhhh

*shakes someone else's doctor upside-down until pills fall out their pockets*