How to make apricots at home. How to dry apricots at home. Choosing for dried apricots

Dried apricots are an additional source of vitamins in winter. From apricots, by drying you can get dried apricots - dried apricots without seeds, and apricots - dried apricots with a pit, and even stuffed dried apricots! How to properly dry apricots so that they delight us with their taste and appearance? How to dry apricots in...

Every housewife needs to know how to make dried apricots at home in order to provide her family with vitamins for the winter. You can dry apricots in different ways: in the oven, in an electric dryer, or lay them out in the sun. How to do everything correctly so that the fruit does not lose its beneficial properties and micronutrients?

How to choose and prepare apricots for drying

You can dry ripe fruits of cultivated varieties, but not overripe ones. They should be firm and not rotten or damaged. Before drying dried apricots, rinse the fruit thoroughly under cold running water and remove the stems. Then cut each piece in half and remove the seeds. Those with seeds will be called apricots. Many housewives know how to properly dry apricots at home so that they acquire an orange-golden color. To do this, it is recommended to follow several rules:

1. Sand with sulfur. Place the fruits, cut in half, on a mesh or lattice (in one layer) with the flesh on top and place everything in a closed wooden box. After this, place cotton swabs treated with sulfur at the bottom of the box and set them on fire. Sanding takes from 2 to 6 hours. To process 1 kg of product at home, you need 2 g of sulfur.
2. Pour over boiling water and steam. This method is much simpler. First, use a colander: hold the fruit over a pan of boiling water (10-15 minutes), then place it in boiling, slightly sweetened water for 1-2 minutes. Then place on a towel or paper and dry.
3. Soak in lemon solution. To prepare 1 liter of solution you will need 1 tsp. citric acid. Pour the solution over the cut slices for 10 minutes, then leave to dry.

What utensils will you need?

Before drying apricots at home, prepare the dishes you will need in the process:

• sieve or colander;
• pan;
• paper towels or paper;
• electric dryer (if you make dried fruits mechanically);
• metal grill and cloth (when drying naturally);
• knife for preparing the product;
• dishes.

How to make dried fruits from apricots at home

You can dry apricots in different ways: in an electric dryer, in an oven, or simply by exposing them to the sun. How to make dried apricots of different colors? It all depends on the processing before the process, for example:

1. To get light-colored dried fruits, first put them in a colander and hold them over a saucepan in which water is boiling, but no more than 10 minutes. Another option would be to pour pre-cooked saturated syrup over the fruit halves. Then you need to put the fruits on a plate and let them dry.
2. The orange-golden color is achieved by sanding with sulfur. This must be done before drying apricots at home.

Drying apricots in an electric dryer

The big advantage of the dehydrator is that you can put several different types of fruits in it, and then simply lay out the fully prepared ones one by one. If you have an electric dryer, make dried fruits at home step by step:

1. Prepare the fruits, remove the seeds, cut each fruit.
2. Place the slices on the dehydrator rack so that they are cut side down, literally a couple of millimeters from each other.
3. Set the temperature to 55-60 degrees, leave for 20-40 minutes.
4. The drying process of large fruits lasts at least 30-40 minutes.
5. Everyone determines the readiness of dried fruits for themselves: you should not keep them for too long if you like juicy and meaty products. For those who prefer dry and wrinkled dried apricots, it is recommended to wait a little longer than the allotted time.

Dried pitted apricot in the sun

Cooking dried apricots at home naturally is simple:

1. Place the halves on a metal rack, having previously covered it with a cloth, flesh side up.
2. Place it for 3-4 hours in a place where there is good wind.
3. After this, you need to expose the grille to the sun.
4. At night, fruits must be brought into the room.
5. Drying lasts up to two weeks, it all depends on weather conditions.

How to make dried apricots at home in the oven

No housewife will ever lose a large amount of ripe fruit. Provided that she knows how to cook dried apricots at home. A tasty and healthy delicacy is not very difficult to make - you can also dry it in the oven, following certain rules:

1. Rinse and remove seeds from the fruit.
2. Place on a wire rack in one layer so that they do not touch each other.
3. It is better to cover the grill with cotton cloth.
4. The temperature for drying is from 60 to 70 degrees.
5. The fruits dry evenly if you stir them periodically.
6. When there is a lot of harvest, use several grids at once. Lay them out so that there is a distance of at least 7 cm between them.

When the dried apricots dry out a little, they need to be transferred to a baking sheet. It needs to be placed a little higher, covered with paper. The fruits must be stirred during drying. Dried fruits are considered ready if no moisture comes out when pressed and they feel elastic to the touch. Drying in the oven takes no more than 12 hours. Sometimes dried apricots turn out to be of different moisture content, but this is normal when drying at home. Equalization of humidity is achieved provided that the dried fruits lie in a dry place for some time.

How to store it correctly

It is necessary not only to comply with all the conditions on how to properly dry apricots at home, but also to know how to preserve them. It is best to store prepared supplies by wrapping them in gauze. Hang dried apricots around the room so that they are suspended. The air temperature should not exceed 10 degrees. The presence of moisture is undesirable, so you should choose a well-ventilated area.

If it is not possible to maintain such storage conditions, place the dried fruit in a paper or plastic bag, tray, box or jar. The main requirement is good sealing of the container or packaging; this will prevent the apricots from absorbing moisture and any odors. Proper storage of dried fruits is a guarantee that the whole family will always receive many useful substances that apricots have.

Video recipes: how to dry apricots for dried apricots

Today you will learn how to dry apricots at home.

Fresh apricots are tasty and very beneficial for our health, especially for anemia, cardiovascular diseases, and vitamin deficiencies.

Ripe fruits contain vitamins: C, PP, B, as well as carotene, iron, potassium and many other useful minerals and trace elements.

How can we supplement our body with vitamins and microelements when the apricot season ends?

Beneficial properties are well preserved in dried fruits. Apricots can be dried and consumed at any time of the year.

How to dry apricots at home?

For drying, we need to take ripe, healthy apricots with well-separable stones and dense pulp.

Note!

For drying, you should use only very ripe or even slightly overripe (without damage) fruits - only in this case will the finished dried apricots have their characteristic aroma and taste.

Wash thoroughly and then dry the apricots to remove excess moisture. Divide them in half and remove the seeds.

At home, fruits are dried in the oven or, when the weather is dry, in the fresh air, and both methods are also combined.

In any case, you and I will need sheets to place the apricots on. For these purposes you can use: trays, baking sheets or grids on wooden frames.

Drying apricots in the oven - 1 way

1. To dry in the oven, line the baking sheets with baking paper and place the apricots cut side up.
2. Then we put it in the oven and dry it at a temperature of 50 - 60 degrees for one hour, stirring the fruits periodically.
3. Next, open the oven and let the apricots cool, after which we repeat the procedure: drying for one hour at a temperature of 50 - 60 degrees, and then cool again.
4. We repeat drying with cooling until our dried apricots stop releasing juice when squeezed. This is approximately 5 - 6 hour-long drying procedures with cooling.

Drying in the oven - method 2

1. Place the prepared apricot halves in a colander or sieve and keep for 5 - 10 minutes over boiling water. This will help preserve the natural color of the fruit.
2. Then dry the apricots from excess moisture on a clean cotton cloth.
3. Place the fruits on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
4. Place the baking sheet with apricots in the oven, heated to 65 degrees. Exist at a temperature of 65 degrees for 8 - 10 hours.
5. After this time, take the apricots out of the oven, cool them and pour them into a box with a tight-fitting lid and leave for 3 weeks. Then store the dried apricots in a dry, well-ventilated area.

Air drying apricots

1. To air dry apricots, place the prepared fruits on baking sheets or sheets.
2. Next, we keep the leaves with fruits for 3 - 4 hours in the shade, then we take them out into the sun, and at night they must be put under a canopy or roof.
3. Next, it is recommended to dry the apricots in the shade: in an apartment - on a loggia or balcony, in a private house - in the attic, gazebo or veranda.

It is important to know!

Excessive exposure of apricots to the sun can give the fruit an unsightly, baked appearance.

Combined method of drying apricots

1. We first keep the fruits in the sun for 3 - 4 hours.
2. Then for one hour in the oven at a temperature of 50 - 60 degrees.
3. After this, we send the apricots to dry in the shade.

Now you know how to dry apricots at home and can use any of the proposed methods.

It should be borne in mind that home drying will differ in appearance from store drying for the reason that in production, to preserve its presentation, the fruits are fumigated with sulfur dioxide.

Finished dried apricots should be stored in a dry and well-ventilated area.

The yield of dried apricots is 10 - 15 kilograms per 100 kilograms of fresh fruit.

Good luck with your summer preparations!

Sunny apricot is a perishable product. Therefore, when saving it, they try to quickly prepare jam, preserves, etc. But there is a simple, economical, without adding sugar, way to preserve the fruit in a beautiful form with benefit.

You just need to know the rules: how to dry apricots at home.

Selection and preparation

Rule 1: choose a quality product - the dried fruit will be valuable.

To dry apricots, you need to take ripe, not very juicy, sweet varieties of fruits, sort through them, removing damaged and rotten ones.

Tip: the sweetest fruits are oblong in shape and orange with a pink tint. It is better to choose large ones, from whose dense pulp it is easier to remove the stone. It is removed by cutting the fruit with a knife, breaking it into halves by hand, or pushing it out with a wooden stick. Freshly picked clean fruits do not need to be washed. If the climate is rich in sunny days, it is better to air dry for 3 weeks, stringing the apricots on twigs or twine, turning them over from time to time.

Rule 2: Preparation will become easy if there is practice.

Fruits should be washed with running water and the stem and pit should be removed. To ensure that dried apricots retain their sunny color, you can choose a convenient method:

1. 1. Place fruit halves in a solution of lemon juice or acid (1 lemon or 1 to 8 teaspoons of acid per 1 liter of water). After 10 min. Drain the aging solution and spread out the apricots for initial drying.

• Prepare boiling water in a saucepan on the stove. Place the fruits in the bottom of a colander and hold over it for no more than ¼ hour. Sweeten this water and put it there for 2 minutes. apricots. Place on dry paper.

• Take a wire rack, lay out the slices on it in one layer, and place in a wooden box with a lid. At the bottom, set fire to cotton swabs treated with sulfur. The smoke envelops the fruits for two to six hours. Per kg of apricots you need 2 g of sulfur. Although sulfur smoke is a good preservative that prevents dried apricots from darkening, however, some people, and especially children, have a special sensitivity to it. After drying, fumigated fruits must be left for 30 minutes before eating. in water 20°t.

Natural drying in the fresh air

Rule 3: Dry apricots in the sun in summer and eat vitamins in winter.

Drying apricots in the sun - a natural way to preserve summer vitamins for the winter. Drying according to the algorithm is as follows:

1. 1. Cover the metal mesh with a soft cloth or parchment. Place the apricot slices on it, with the open side up, and cover with gauze.

• Take it out of the house to a well-ventilated area and set it to blow with wind for 4 hours.
• Then move it to where there is as much sunlight as possible.

• After sunset, avoiding moisture, take it home to dry.

• You will have to dry it for about 14 days in strong sun, because in the shade, humidity will ruin the raw materials.

Dry in an electric dryer

Rule 4: there is no sun and it suddenly rains - the electric dryer is our best friend.

In any weather, without leaving home, in less time, and always having help in the form of a dehydrator (dryer) at hand, you can dry a large number of apricots at once. For this:

• • The prepared slices are laid out on the mesh with the cuts down so that they are well blown with dry air.

• The temperature is set to +60º, and if the halves are large, it is kept for at least 40 minutes.

• When you want meaty, juicy dried apricots, you need to dry them for less time. Leave longer if dry and wrinkled is preferred.

Electric dryers are varied; how long to dry fruit depends on the configuration and power. The common thing is that the process of starting and finishing drying occurs at t +40-+50º, and in the middle +60. Following the instructions for conventional models, it takes 10 hours to dry.

How to dry with an air fryer

An air fryer is an excellent alternative to an electric dryer. The convection principle of its operation, combining heating and ventilation, preserves the beneficial properties of fruits. Apricots are placed loosely on the mesh, the ventilation power is set to high and the temperature is +70º. If one cycle is not enough, repeat it.

Dry in the oven

Rule 5: a home oven will help you dry apricots quickly and efficiently.

You can get excellent dried fruit even without an electric dryer in a conventional oven; the main thing is to monitor the temperature and not heat it up too much:

1. 1. Line a wire rack with baking paper.
   2. Arrange the apricots in one loose layer.

• It is not advisable to raise the temperature above +60°. Ideal drying takes place at +40º, so after heating the oven, you need to turn it down later.

• The door must be opened slightly from time to time to allow air circulation.

• As soon as the apricots begin to dry out, they need to be gently stirred periodically.

• If there are a lot of fruits, then several grids are used at a distance of no less than 7 cm.

• If ventilation is uneven, dried apricots should be kept at room temperature for some time.

Advice: if you want to please your loved ones with a very tasty result, then you should use an unusual recipe for preparing apricots to dry them. The product is placed in a container, sprinkled with sugar (1:1), and aged for 12 hours. The resulting juice is drained, 1 tbsp is added. sugar and water to make syrup. As soon as it boils, immerse the apricots in it and pour over the juice of ½ lemon. Immediately turn off the stove and cover the container with a lid, leaving until completely cooled. After this, the apricots are placed in a colander, and the syrup is drained (it can be added to the compote). Then they need to be dried in the house in any convenient way. Dried apricots must not only be properly prepared, but also preserved. To prevent dried fruit from drying out, place it in a glass container, seal tightly and store at +20º t.

Knowing how to properly dry apricots at home, you can save a rich harvest, money from buying dried fruits of questionable quality, and health by pampering yourself with healthy fruit.

Dried apricot, although inferior in content of nutrients to fresh apricot, still contains more of them than jam, jam or compote. Apricots are perishable fruits, drying is one of the best ways to preserve them, and it does not require a lot of money.

Apricots are perishable fruits, drying is one of the best ways to preserve them

Before you start drying apricots, you should decide what you want to get in the end. Does the question seem strange? Naturally, dried apricots. Do you know what dried apricot is actually called, and dried apricots are just one of its varieties.

The name depends on the integrity of the fruit and its size. Small dried apricots with pits are called apricots, large ones are called shepala. If the seed is squeezed out through the hole near the stalk with minimal disruption of the fruit, then when dried, the result is kaisa. And if individual apricot halves are dried, naturally without pits, then this is dried apricots. Connoisseurs distinguish between a product made from cut fruits and those broken without the help of a knife.

Video about homemade dried apricots

But it is not customary to distinguish ready-made dried apricots by what variety they are made from.

However, when choosing apricots suitable for obtaining a quality product, the variety is of great importance. For dried apricots, large, not too juicy fruits with dense pulp and a high sugar content are suitable; the stone should be easy to remove. Many Central Asian varieties have such qualities, some of which contain more than 20% sugar, but even in the middle zone you can choose suitable ones with sufficient sugar content of about 10%. The weight of properly selected, dense apricots is reduced by 5-6 times when dried.

Fully ripe, undamaged fruits collected from the tree are selected; the rejected ones can be dried in the form of apricots or sear. It is advisable to wash the apricots intended for dried apricots so thoroughly that the finished dried fruit can be consumed unwashed, otherwise it will lose some of its beneficial substances. The fruit is divided into halves and the pit is removed.

The fruit is divided into halves and the pit is removed.

In terms of vitamin content, dried apricots are somewhat poorer than apricots, but this healthy delicacy has another advantage: it can be given a very beautiful, juicy, amber color. When producing a commercial product, the effect is usually achieved by treating prepared apricots with sulfur dioxide. The method, although prescribed by technology, is considered not entirely environmentally friendly. In order to obtain dried apricots at home, we can recommend more acceptable ways to preserve color.

If the bright appearance of the future dried apricot is important to the manufacturer, then before drying, he puts the prepared apricot halves in a colander and keeps it over steam for 5 - 10 minutes, depending on the hardness of the fruit; in some cases, instead of steaming, the fruit can even be boiled for 5 minutes. After this, place the apricots on a clean cloth to drain off excess moisture. The dried fruit is not as spectacular as when processed with sulfur, but still brighter than dull, not steamed dried apricots.

To preserve color, you can soak washed fruits in a solution of citric acid.

Also, to preserve color, you can soak washed fruits in a solution of citric acid, prepared at the rate of 1 teaspoon per liter of water.

The most gentle option, which produces the healthiest dried fruits, is to dry the fruits directly on the tree, this is how you get apricots from suitable varieties. It is also advisable to dry dried apricots in the most natural conditions possible; this requires a ventilated, unshaded place (yard, balcony or roof) and hot sunny weather. There should be no road with exhaust fumes or dust nearby .

The halves of the fruits are first kept in the shade, preferably in the wind or draft, after 3 - 4 hours they are laid out with cuts up, separately, so that they do not stick together, on wooden grids or folded into willow wickers and exposed to the sun. You can use a metal grid, but be sure to lay a thin cloth on it. At night, the workpieces are removed indoors, the same in case of temporary bad weather. After a few days, the slices will wilt, shrink in size and become non-sticky, then they can be arranged more closely. Depending on the temperature and properties of the fruit, drying lasts one to two weeks.

It is advisable to dry dried apricots in the most natural conditions possible.

Some manufacturers string apricot halves onto a thread and pull it horizontally. If the fruits are not too juicy and dense enough so as not to bunch up and stick together, then this method is acceptable. Softer apricots can be strung on twigs or thin wooden skewers, and placed at an angle, inserting one end into specially drilled holes. In areas where winds often blow in hot weather, fruits strung on threads or twigs dry out even in the shade.

A problem that often accompanies the “old-fashioned” method is insects - ants and flies. Practitioners advise frequently changing the location of the product in order to “deceive” the ants, but this requires a large available area and constant monitoring. It is easier to place the apricot on a table whose legs are immersed in bowls of water. To protect against flies, the fruits can be covered with gauze; if the sun is hot enough, this is acceptable.

Another option is to adapt an old double window frame for a solar dryer, replacing the glass with a plastic mesh. Such a device, suspended in a horizontal position, provides high-quality drying and protection from insects.

For those who do not have a suitable area for solar drying of fruit or prefer to receive a batch of dried apricots within one day, it is possible to use household appliances. The best modern dryers are equipped with a powerful heater, a fan, a tray system that increases the usable area, and a thermostat. Manufacturers are constantly improving their products, as a result, the process of preparing dried fruits is becoming more and more simple and convenient, and the result is of higher quality.

Place the slices on trays separately so that they do not stick together.

Features of working with one or another device are indicated in the attached instructions, but you need to take into account the basic rules for handling apricots. Place the slices on trays separately so that they do not stick together. During the first and last 2 - 3 hours, set the temperature to 45 - 50 ° C, in the middle of the process - up to 60 ° C. Drying duration is 8 – 10, less often – up to 12 hours.

If you don’t have a special dryer, you can successfully use a regular oven, but you have to keep the process under constant control. Due to the lack of ventilation, the oven is maintained at a higher temperature, 60–65 °C, and the door is opened slightly from time to time to remove moisture; towards the end of drying, the temperature is lowered slightly. From the moment they are half-ready, you need to monitor the condition of the fruit so as not to dry them out.

Video about making dried apricots at home

How to determine the readiness of dried apricots?

To find out that your dried apricots are ready, just check them according to three indicators:

1. To the touch. In properly dried dried apricots, about 10% of the original amount of water remains; it is dry, but elastic, pleasant to the touch and slightly heavier than overdried dried apricots - hard, making a dry, hard sound when tapped.
2. Place in water. A sure indicator of good quality is the ability to swell in hot water. This product retains about 30% of the vitamins contained in fresh apricots and up to 80% of the original minerals.
3. By color. Dried apricots prepared without chemical treatment are moderately yellow, orange or dull brown; too rich a color is not an indicator of quality and does not attract informed consumers.

Dried apricots cooked without chemical treatment are moderately yellow, orange or dull brown.

Sometimes when cooking at home, apricot slices dry unevenly. To level them, they are placed for several days in a closed cardboard box or wooden vessel for the so-called “sweating”, while the moisture is evenly distributed throughout the entire mass of the product. Dried apricots can be stored in the same boxes or wooden jars, placed in a cool, dry room, or hung in a bag made of thick fabric. High-quality dried apricots can be stored for up to two years.

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