I'd love to see your filling recipes. The Apple Crisp I make is a little different: APPLE CRISP (serves 6-8) 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 TBL flour 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 TBL grated orange zest 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I use more) 1/2 tsp nutmeg Pinch of salt 1/2 cup butter, melted 4 large tart apples In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, flour, nuts, brown sugar & granulated sugar. Stir in the orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt, then blend in the butter. Lightly butter a 13x9" baking dish. peel, core & thinly slice the apples. Place the slices on the bottom of the dish & scatter the crumb mixture over the top. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 45 minutes.~~The Maine Collection PEAR CRISP (serves 6) 6 ripe Bosc or Anjou pears, peeled, cored, sliced 1 TBL lemon juice 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 3/4 cup flour 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats 1/2 cup brown sugar Place pears in a greased 2 qt baking dish. Toss pears w/lemon juice, cinnamon & nutmeg. In a bowl, combine flour & butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add oats & brown sugar. Stir well; sprinkle over pears. Bake in a preheated 375° oven 20-25 minutes or until browned & pears are tender. Serve w/ice cream or whipped cream.~~Food for Thought RASPBERRY ALMOND SQUARES 2/3 cup blanched whole almonds 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar 1 egg, separated 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups flour 3/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 cup raspberry preserves Using a processor with a steel blade, process the almonds until finely chopped but not powdered. Or finely chop in ablender or by hand. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar & brown sugar. Beat in the egg yolk & vanilla. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon & salt. Stir into the creamed mixture, blending well. Press the dough into a lightly buttered 14x11" jellyroll pan. Spread the preserves evenly over the top. Beat the egg white until frothy & brush over the preserves. Sprinkle w/the almonds & gently pres into the preserves. Place in the center of a preheated 350° oven & bake 30-35 minutes or until the edges are browned & the center is almost browned. Remove from the oven & immediately loosen the sides with a spatula. Let cool in the pan 40 minutes, then cut into squares.~~Our Town Cookbook APRICOT BARS 1 2/3 cups quick oats 1 2/3 cup flour1 scant tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup packed light brown sugar 1 stick butter, melted 10 oz jar apricot preserves Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 15x10x1" jellyroll pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, salt & brown sugar. Add the butter & mix until crumbly. Pack 1/2 the mixture firmly into the prepared pan. Spread the preserves evenly over the mixture. Sprinkle remaining mixture evenly over the preserves & pat down gently. Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned.~~Gator Country Cooks

I can't speak to the dehydrating (I'm here for the learning), but I do know slicers! I have a very very expensive DeBuyer mandoline, with infinite settings, via crank, which was a present. Actually, it's a V-slicer, which helps prevent squishing. It has a huge pusher and a side handle, so if operated correctly there's no cutting of the fingers. The pusher has a stiff spring in it, so there's really very little that doesn't go through the blade. Probably a quarter inch on an apple with the skin on. It is fantastic for large scale processing. Better than FP, which is limited by the bowl size. Better than by hand, because of speed. If you're going to do a LOT of slicing, it's worth the investment. I haven't used the latest models of OXO. They make reasonably priced real mandolines and their design is usually good. I can't speak to the guard, however. I haven't used any Zyliss, but they look well designed and are moderately priced. It might be worth going somewhere like Bed, Bath & Beyond and giving them a good looking over. For smaller tasks, I use a Kyocera paddle mandoline. It has cutouts in the sides so that it can sit securely on a bowl, or you can just hold it over a cutting board or platter. It would be fine for slicing half a dozen apples, but could get tiresome for more. There is a size limit. The fruit has to fit between the side ridges. The pusher, however, is a flat, nylon thing, with nylon spikes. It doesn't attach to the fruit. You have to hold it with the pressure from your hand, but it works very well with no waste. I've never been cut, but, especially in a busy house where you can be startled, a cutproof glove would be a good idea. This one is inexpensive and very useful. And goes in the dishwasher, which is a boon (the OXO might as well--I don't remember). Regarding apple slicers, the corer/wedger that Grainlady just mentioned is an excellent tool. If your apple is a little wonky, you can kind of wiggle and adjust, and I find it works better than an old fashioned corer, especially on larger apples. It is possible to slice through the edge of the core, however, so until you learn how to feel if it's askew, and even after if there's a wide spot in the core, which you may want to clean up from the wedges with a paring knife. The quintessential apple corer, parer, slicer is a whizbang delight if you have an apple orchard and have to process bushel after bushel after bushel of apples. For the average homemaker, not so much. It takes an awful lot of flesh off with the peel (not such a big deal if you're making the apple jelly), and only works well on symmetrical apples. However, doesn't yours have an adjustment for the slicing knife? Maybe some don't. One of the advantages of these, with adjustable knife, is that it can slice really thin! Like an eighth of an inch. I hope the dehydrating goes well. Keep looking, and you'll find a mandoline that suits you.

The recipe called for room temperature butter. I should have questioned that. Now I have too many variables to do a single test. 1) Cold Butter 2) White sugar, but suggestions are that it doesn't make a difference. 3) No convection, my mother's stove did not have convection. Life is tough, how many Crisps do I have to make, and eat, in order to get it right? I will have to revise the recipe for two portions instead of eight. I remember, as a kid, that my mother purchased one of every chocolate cake box mix she could find and we certainly enjoyed the taste test.... I believe the winner was the Stop Rite store brand. As for location? I inherited the house and property on which I went through my childhood. My mother designed it, my father built it. How cool is that?

Thanks gardengal, I knew I had read about genetic modifying some new apple varieties, specifically for non-browning qualities. I wasn't sure how common it was in creating new varieties or if they were just hybridized. I know GMO is very common - corn, rice, tomatoes, soybeans, sugar beets, canola oil - so many of our foods are affected because of one or more of those ingredients. Even though GMO wheat hasn't been allowed for marketing, it's approved for test crops and has found it's way into our crops/food chain, either deliberately by farmers seeking higher yields or by escaped seeds. When I was looking up the varieties of GMO apples, I found that not only were some newer kinds GMO (Arctic, Opal), but that Golden Delicious, Fuji and Granny Smith are now available GMO. Apparently, Arctic is the brand of GMO Golden Delicious. (As you stated above). I'll continue to seek out and choose non-GMO foods because I don't believe we understand the full consequences of what is being done. Not only for consumption, but for the ecosystems surrounding our agriculture.