Dried Fruits

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Drying is one of the simplest ways to prepare berries and fruits for the winter. Drying is a method that people have been using since ancient times. We often forget about such an easy and cheap way. But how many vitamins and microelements can be preserved thanks to drying

Midsummer is the time when you need to harvest and make preparations for the winter.

There are such methods of drying fruits and berries as:

• the natural way, • artificial thermal method (oven, microwave oven, drying cabinet), • drying in a box by the smoke method, • drying using osmotic dehydration.

The natural way to dry in the sun

In order to dry fruits and berries in a natural way, you do not need special equipment. Warm and dry weather is needed, which is most often in the middle of summer when we harvest. Before starting the drying process itself, berries and fruits must be washed well and cut as you like. Having washed and cut everything, we lay out the raw materials on wooden trays or special sieves. Do not use metal coasters for drying, this is bad for the fruit and can change their taste. Having prepared the trays, we take them outside and put them in the shade, in a well-ventilated place. It is imperative to stir the fruits every day so that they can dry evenly. The only disadvantage of this drying method is the dependence on air humidity, that is, it cannot be dried in rainy weather.

Artificial thermal method for drying berries and fruits

To dry berries and fruits by an artificial thermal method, we need an oven (nowadays there is in every house) or a microwave oven, or a drying cabinet that you can build at home with your own hands. In order to dry the fruits in the oven, it is necessary to take into account the temperature regime for different types of berries and fruits. For example, for drying apricots, the temperature in the oven should be 60-70 ° C, for apples - 80-85 ° C, for pears - 65-75 ° C, and for plums - 50-55 ° C degrees. It should also be borne in mind that during the drying process, the temperature is constantly regulated, for some types of berries and fruits they lower the temperature, and for others they increase it.

And the drying time is also individual.

Drying on a vale with a smoke method

Loznitsa is a flat-bottomed basket made of vines. Fruits are poured into this basket with a layer of no more than 15 cm and placed in a smokehouse, where the same temperature is maintained at 45-50 ° C for several days, and then raised to 65-70 ° C. It is imperative to stir the fruits. This method of drying, although it takes longer than other methods, but the fruits are not as dry as when dried in a natural way, since berries and fruits are smoked more, rather than dried, and more moisture remains in them.

Drying with osmotic dehydration

This type of drying is more laborious, but the dried fruits are very tasty. For this drying method, you need to prepare syrup in a ratio of fruits and syrup 1: 4, that is, for 1 part of fruit you need 4 liters of syrup. For each liter of syrup, add 2 g of citric acid. Dip the cut fruits in the syrup and leave for 12 hours. After this time, the syrup is allowed to drain and the fruits are put in the oven at 65-70 ° C, thereby drying up the fruit.

You can store dried fruits in cotton bags at a temperature of about 10 ° C or in tightly closing jars so that dried fruits do not absorb moisture from the air.

IMPORTANT:

1. Rinse fruits and berries thoroughly before drying, 2.take into account the temperature regime for different types of fruits and berries, 3.do not dry on metal trays, 4.store so that dried fruits do not absorb moisture from the air,

5. we make blanks and make our loved ones happy in the winter!