2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Sorrel is a real storehouse of all kinds of useful substances and vitamins, and that is why many summer residents strive to take maximum benefit from it not only in season, but also to prepare it for the winter. But in the fall, winter and spring vitamins are especially needed by the human body! Some hostesses freeze sorrel for the winter, while others dry it. And if there are usually no questions about freezing, then not everyone knows how to dry sorrel
Collection of leaves
The leaves intended for drying are harvested from May to mid-June - then the concentration of oxalic acid in this plant will increase significantly, and this will no longer be particularly useful for the body.
Sorrel should be harvested only when sunny and dry weather is established, only after the dew on the plants has completely dried. The leaves are neatly cut off either with scissors or with a sharply sharpened knife, while it is recommended to cut them with cuttings, trying to retreat two to three centimeters from the soil surface.
Air drying
You can dry sorrel in a variety of ways: both in the air and with the help of various household appliances. If the leaves are planned to be dried directly in the open air, then it is not recommended to wash them beforehand in this case - it will be quite enough to simply sort out the collected raw materials, eliminating all specimens that have had time to turn yellow and fade. Next, the prepared leaves are collected in small bunches, after which these bunches are hung under the canopies that provide them with reliable protection from the direct rays of the sun. As a rule, with the establishment of warm and dry weather in natural conditions, the grass completely dries out in ten to fifteen days.
Another option is to dry the harvested sorrel on sheets of paper. With this approach, the collected greens are laid out on clean sheets of paper in one layer and the leaves are sent to dry in the shade, turning them over from time to time. And if you grind them before that, they will dry many times faster!
It is quite acceptable to dry sorrel on sieves - if you compare this method with drying on paper, it will be even much more preferable, because air circulation in this case will be many times better!
And in the event that the weather is completely unfavorable for drying sorrel outside, it is recommended to bring it into a room where the leaves are dried in places protected from the sun.
Dry sorrel in a special dryer or oven
Sorrel can be easily dried in an electric dryer. The leaves are thoroughly sorted out, washed as needed in running water and dried thoroughly, since it is categorically not recommended to put wet leaves on the grates. To dry the washed sorrel leaves faster, you can either use clean paper towels or simply place the bundles of leaves in a clean, empty glass, making sure that the leaves are facing up. And when all the moisture drains, the leaves are placed in the dryer, after setting the “Herbs” mode in it or manually setting the temperature mode to forty degrees. Sorrel in an electric dryer can be dried both whole and crushed - in this case, it dries completely in five to seven hours.
And, of course, drying sorrel in the oven is always relevant. In a preheated oven, sorrel leaves are usually dried for two to three hours at a temperature of forty to fifty degrees. And after that, it is recommended to additionally dry the sorrel for another two days, spreading the leaves in the open air in the shade.
Storage conditions
So that all the work is not in vain, it is important to provide the dried sorrel with appropriate storage conditions. Sorrel leaves are considered well dried only when, when squeezed in the hands, they immediately begin to rustle and crumble. If they instantly literally rub into powder, this indicates that the raw material was too dry, and this is no longer very good.
Dried sorrel leaves can be stored both whole and shredded - many hostesses often grind dried sorrel in order to save space. Dried leaves are stored only in dry rooms, either in cardboard containers or in paper bags. You can also store them in glass jars, but in this case you should not tighten the lids too tightly. And in order for useful substances with vitamins to remain in dried sorrel as long as possible, it must be carefully protected from direct sunlight. As for the shelf life of dried sorrel, they are usually two years, but ideally, it is still recommended to renew the stock of dried leaves annually!
Do you dry sorrel for the winter?
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