How to make dried apricots at home? Apricots in an electric dryer

Dried apricots - useful dried fruits. Take them is recommended for anemia, cardiovascular diseases or lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. Dried apricots must be eaten daily. However, it is not cheap, and not everyone can afford such a purchase. Therefore, many housewives are wondering how to make dried apricots at home.

What is dried apricots? Purpose

Dried apricots are a storehouse of vitamins and microelements (A1, B1, B2, C, PP, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, etc.). Make this fruit from apricots. Just do not confuse with apricots and kaisas. They are made from whole apricots, with or without bones. This is also useful dried fruits. And yet, you can say, dried apricots are dried apricots.

It is made from fruit without pits. However, it is necessary to know the variety from which this product is made. For example, a wild apricot with small fruits is not suitable.

Doctors recommend to use dried apricots daily in an amount of about 5 pcs. If you regularly eat dried fruits, you can protect yourself from a heart attack or stroke. Dried apricots are used in the diet, and also used in cosmetology - make masks for the face and hair.

Mineral substances in dried fruits are more than vitamins. It is their consumption that supports the body in its tone. If you do not like dried apricots in pure form, then you can add to the dessert. They add spice and a unique taste to the dish.

Choose apricot for dried apricots

For the preparation of dried fruits, it is important to choose the right fruit. If you take wild apricots, dried apricots will not work. It will be bitter and tasteless, and maybe too acidic. Therefore, it is necessary to take large varieties. It can be a red-cheeked apricot. The weight of one fruit is 40-50 grams. Bone is not very much attached to the pulp, separate it without problems. The color of the apricot is yellow with ruddy flanks. Therefore, dried apricots will not only taste good, but also beautiful.

Weight Melitopol apricot - up to 40 gr. The color is bright orange. These fruits are also suitable for drying dried apricots. Dried fruits will turn out delicious, as the fruits are juicy and sweet. The color of dried apricots will turn orange.

Even for the production of dried fruits, varieties are suitable: the Polissya large-berry apricot, the Kuibyshev jubilee, the pineapple, etc. Of all these species, one can make dried apricots. It will turn out delicious, juicy and beautiful. Colors can be from yellow to orange. Then you will learn how to make dried apricots at home.

Recipe

As a rule, dried fruits are expensive, so not every buyer has the opportunity to purchase them. Especially independent preparation gives a guarantee of a quality product. You can be sure that there are no chemicals harmful to the body in dried fruits. After you have learned that such dried apricots, the recipe of preparation we offer uncomplicated.

You will need:

• Fresh, ripe apricots - 2.5 kg.
• Sugar - 1 kg.
• Lemon acid.

Apricots thoroughly rinse, divide them into two halves and carefully remove the pits. In order for the color not to fade and burn out, lower the fruit for 5 minutes into boiling sweet water. If you want dried apricots with sourish, add the citric acid to the boiling water, but this is not necessary.

After 5 minutes, remove the halves of the fruit from the water and put on a paper towel to release them from excess moisture and liquid.

After that you can cook. You will learn how to dry apricots in three ways:

1. This way came to us from grandmothers. Put the apricots under the scorching sun on a clean cloth. This drying takes about two weeks. However, every night you need to clean them, because the night moisture and morning dew do not allow the apricots to dry. They only get dirty.

If dry on the street, you need to cover the fruit with a dense gauze. Because of this, they dry longer.

2. You can also dry apricots in the oven. The temperature should be about 50-60 degrees, and leave the fruit for 8-11 hours. In the oven, the products are often dried, so you need to monitor the preparation.

3. Dryer - the best way. The device is designed just for this. Apricots in the electric dryer are prepared more qualitatively than by other methods. As a rule, for 2 hours put the fruit to languish at 50 degrees. Do not approach the unit yet. The remaining 8 hours we put on 45.

Here also the dried apricot is made - the recipe is absolutely uncomplicated. Dried fruit can do any housewife. Of 2.5 kg, approximately half a kilogram remains.

How to keep the color of dried apricots?

Homemade dried fruits are much darker than shop dried fruits. How to keep a beautiful and bright color? There are two methods:

1. In boiling water, place apricot halves for 5 minutes. Fruits will fix the color, and boiling water will decontaminate the product. Probably, microbes will not completely disappear, but they will stop multiplying.

2. A special solution will help preserve the color of the fruit. To do this, you need 1 liter of water and citric acid (8 tsp). In this syrup, keep the apricots for about 10 minutes.

These are the two proven methods. Citric acid and boiling water retain the color of the fruit for a long time. But try not to overexpose them.

Determine readiness

Now you know how to make dried apricots at home. However, you need to determine its readiness correctly. After all, if it is not dried, it will quickly deteriorate. In order to find out if dried apricots are ready, one of three methods should be used:

1. Compression. Squeeze one dried apricot in your hand, it should not contain more than 10% of the liquid. To the touch, the fruit is dry, elastic. When they tap on a hard surface, they make a dull sound.

2. Lowering into hot water. Dried apricots swell. This is a sign of good quality. It should be lowered into water for 5-10 minutes.

3. Color is a true quality indicator. If dried apricots in boiling water or citric acid before drying, then almost natural color remains.

Bright orange fruits grow a little dimmer, like yellow ones. There was no attempt to preserve the color - then the dried apricots will be dark color. If it has not changed much, then the fruit should be dried to prevent it from deteriorating.

Storage of dried apricots

Many people like to eat dried apricots in the winter. Some use it in a variety of dishes, others prepare compotes, others simply like to eat. However, it is important not only to know how to make dried apricots at home, but also to understand how to store it properly.

Polyethylene bags are the first enemy of dried fruits, so you can not keep food in them. They there only get spoiled and become insipid, start to blossom. The box or a small box made of wood is the best choice. Linen bags have been used for storing products since antiquity. In glass jars you can also keep dried fruits, only make small holes in the lid.