Drying the hawthorn and preserving the beneficial properties of the fruit is not an easy task, but it is quite solvable. There are several ways to dry medicinal berries at home, and each of them is good in its own way. Teas, decoctions, infusions from dried hawthorn will help to cope with colds and flu, normalize sleep, and calm down in a stressful situation.

How to prepare fruits

Both wild and garden hawthorn are useful. Not only berries are healing, but also the flowers of the plant.

Berries ripen in September. Collect them only in dry weather. After harvesting, the hawthorn is carefully reviewed. The color of a mature hawthorn is dark red. The taste is sweetish, astringent, tart.

Twigs, leaves, dark and rotten fruits are removed. Then the hawthorn is washed under running water or left for 15 minutes in warm water, washed with it. Lay out on paper towels until completely dry. Berries must be completely dry before drying.

Hawthorn Drying Tricks

Drying hawthorn at home is necessary, adhering to the following rules:

• dry the berries in a dark, dry, ventilated room;
• spread the fruits on the decks in a thin layer;
• so that the berries dry better, the hawthorn is constantly mixed;
• if dried in the oven, the door is left slightly ajar, this helps to regulate the temperature and remove moisture;
• dry raw materials darken, become brown, shriveled berries should not release juice.

How to dry hawthorn at home

They dry the fruits on the street, indoors, in the oven, in an electric dryer, in a microwave oven, in an air grill and even in a refrigerator. Everyone chooses the method that suits them best.

In the oven

1. The fruits are evenly distributed on the baking sheet in one layer.
2. The baking sheet is placed on the middle level of the oven.
3. Choose a temperature of 45 degrees.
4. When the fruits begin to wrinkle, the temperature indicator is increased to 70 degrees.
5. The oven door must remain ajar.
6. Regulate the temperature using the gap between the door and the oven. If the gap is reduced, the temperature will rise, and vice versa.
7. Periodically, the berries are turned over so that they do not stick together.
8. The whole process takes 3 to 5 hours. The finished raw material should not be soft and stick together, it becomes hard to the touch.

Interesting! After drying, the hawthorn loses up to 70% of its weight.

In an electric dryer

The downside is that the drying process in an electric dryer takes a long time: 8-12 hours. The advantage is that this method preserves the maximum amount of vitamins.

1. The fruits are laid out on a tray in the center.
2. The tray is placed on the middle level of the dryer.
3. After that, set the temperature to 60 degrees.
4. After 2 hours, it is lowered to 40 degrees, two hours before readiness, 60 degrees are returned.

in the microwave

The disadvantage of the procedure is that the volume of the oven does not allow drying all the berries at the same time. It will take several days to dry the fruits in small portions.

1. Hawthorn is laid out in a single layer on a flat plate for the microwave, transferred to the oven.
2. They set the mode to 300 watts, after an hour they raise the mark of 600 watts, then return to 300 watts before being ready.

In air grill

The downside of drying in an air grill is that you need to watch all the time so that the berries do not burn. If you don't watch it, they can burn out completely.

1. 60 degrees are set, then the temperature is reduced, then increased again and lowered again.
2. Drying lasts 3-4 hours.
3. Readiness is determined, as in the previous methods.

Attention! Eating hot berries is prohibited, they must cool.

On air

Pallets, plywood, grates are suitable for drying.

1. Paper is laid on the grates so that the berries do not fall through.
2. The place is chosen in partial shade or under a canopy.
3. Periodically, the hawthorn is stirred to dry on all sides.
4. On rainy days and at night, the berries are brought into the room, then again returned to their original place of drying.
5. Drying time from 7 to 15 days, depending on the weather.

You can dry the berries in the attic or in a warm, dry shed. Need good ventilation and dry air. Berries should not be exposed to direct sunlight. They practice drying on a battery in an apartment.

Cold drying method

The method is only suitable for refrigerators with auto-defrost.

1. Allocate space on the refrigerator shelf.
2. Paper is lined on a pallet, berries are laid out in one layer on it. Top covered with gauze or natural cloth.
3. Leave the pallet for 5-6 days.
4. Every day, the paper is changed to a new dry one, while the fruits are mixed, ventilation occurs.
5. Readiness is determined by touch.
6. If the hawthorn is wet, drying is extended by 3 days.

Storage of dried hawthorn

Glass jars, wooden boxes, linen bags, paper bags are suitable for storing dry berries. In plastic bags, berries can become moldy, so it is undesirable to use them. Jars should be hermetically sealed so that moisture does not get inside.

Store in a dark, dry, cool place. Fruits are stored up to 2 years, subject to good tightness. Although dried hawthorn retains its healing qualities for up to 8 years.

Uses of Dried Hawthorn

Shortness of breath, obesity, prostatitis, heart disease, poisoning, insomnia, liver and kidney disease - properly dried simple hawthorn helps in the treatment of all these diseases. Harm can bring berries with hypotension, diseases of the genitourinary system, during pregnancy and lactation. Children under 12 years old are not recommended to drink decoctions of hawthorn.

Dried berries are brewed as tea, it is useful when brewing in a thermos. Calorie content per 100 g of berries - 52 kcal.

Decoction recipe:

• one spoonful of berries pour 1 liter of boiling water;
• cook for 4-5 minutes;
• insist 10 hours;
• filter, store in the refrigerator;
• drink 100 ml after meals every day for two weeks (you can’t drink on an empty stomach).

Compotes and wine are made from dried fruits. Hawthorn tincture on vodka helps to fall asleep soundly, it is taken with overwork and stress. You can dry the berries with the addition of cinnamon, mint, bergamot or almonds. It turns out fragrant tea with a spicy taste, which helps with colds and flu.

Add fruits to mulled wine. It turns out an unusual taste. Compote is boiled together with apples, pears, citrus peels are added.

Instead of raisins, housewives add dried hawthorn berries to the dough. They need to be soaked first. The fruits can serve as a filling for pies. They give baked goods a special sourness. In China, sweets, juices, marshmallows are made from dried fruits.

Hawthorn grows in sunny, warm places. In spring, the white flowers of this shrub adorn the edges of the forests, and in autumn, its brilliant red berries are visible from afar. The shrub is so rich in medicinal properties that almost all of its parts have been used in alternative medicine for many thousands of years. Herbalists typically use wiry leaves, small white buds, and sweet red berries. It is quite effective for health to simply chew raw leaves and berries directly from the tree, but it is better to prepare them for future use.

How to dry hawthorn - harvesting methods

For those planning to make homemade hawthorn tinctures, balms, or other mixtures for medicinal use, the plant can be processed by drying, roasting, or boiling the leaves, flowers, or buds with alcohol, glycerin, and other ingredients.

How to dry hawthorn - harvesting leaves and inflorescences

Hawthorn leaves and flowers are usually ready to be harvested in early May. Try to choose a moment for harvesting when there is no excess moisture. Try to cut off healthy twigs when the flowers of the plant are fully opened. Don't be put off by the unpleasant fishy smell coming from fresh inflorescences. Your nose hears a compound called trimethylamine. This is the hawthorn's unusual ability to attract flies and other pollinators. The smell will completely disappear when the flowers dry. Spread the cut branches evenly on paper or cloth, slightly covering from insects. Choose a dark, well-ventilated place to dry. Store dry branches in baskets, paper bags or hanging from the ceiling. You can separate the leaves and flowers from the branches. Be careful, try to avoid pricks with spikes!

How to dry hawthorn - drying berries

Hawthorn berries are harvested in late summer or autumn and carefully dried in several ways.

What you will need:

• water;
• pot;
• 2 cups;
• skimmer;
• lemon juice;
• 2 paper towels;
• drying tray;
• the spoon;
• glass or plastic containers;
• dark glass jars with lids;
• hot water;
• ice water.

Drying technology:

• Sort the berries, discarding rotten and moldy specimens. Rinse them with plain water.
• Boil a pot of water and let it simmer. Fill the bowl with ice water and set it aside.
• Soak the berries in boiling water for 30 seconds to crack their skins. Transfer the hawthorn with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water.
• Prepare a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water in a bowl. Transfer the berries from the bowl of cold water to the lemon juice solution for 10 minutes. To do this, use a slotted spoon.
• Leave the berries on a double layer of paper towels to soak up the water.
• Lay the hawthorn on a drying tray in a single layer. Place it in an oven heated to 60 degrees. Open the oven and stir the berries every three hours.
• Start checking doneness after 20 hours by taking a few hawthorn berries from the oven. Squeeze them in your hand. If your palm stays dry, the berries are ready for the next step in the drying process. Remove them from the oven to cool.
• Place the berries in glass or plastic containers, two-thirds full. Lightly cover the opening and place the jars in a warm, dry place. Shake containers of hawthorn every day for 10 days.
• Rinse dark glass jars with very hot water and let them dry. Put the berries in them and close the lid. Store jars in a dark, cool cupboard, refrigerator, or freezer.

How to dry hawthorn outdoors

Carefully prepare the fruit by removing excess debris and removing the sepals. Lay them out in a thin layer on sheets, covering the bottom with paper or cloth. With this method of drying, washing the berries is not required. Leave the trays in the sun, remembering to turn them over. At night, it is advisable to cover the berries or clean them indoors. The degree of readiness of the hawthorn is determined by the bright red-brown color and the absence of moisture in the hands.

Hawthorn is a fairly common and well-known plant, widely used throughout the world. There are many types of hawthorn, which differ from each other in the shape of the leaves, the color of the flowers, the presence of thorns and their length. Some species are used as ornamentals. Due to its thorns and lush crown, hawthorn is often used as a hedge. But the main value of this plant is its fruits.

The benefits of hawthorn

The fruits have excellent taste. qualities and are famous for their healing properties. You can use fresh berries at the end of summer, in autumn and before the onset of the first frost. . Dried flowers and fruits can be stored for a long time, while maintaining the beneficial qualities of fresh berries. Therefore, the issue of drying and saving hawthorn at home is especially relevant.

Hawthorn is not uncommon in summer cottages and garden plots. During flowering, it is very beautiful and fragrant. In nature, it is often found in park and forest areas.

Rules for harvesting for the winter

It will not be difficult to prepare a plant for the winter, but you need to remember that flowers and fruits that have grown far away are suitable for collection:

• from roads and railways;
• from industrial enterprises;
• from garbage dumps.

Drying flowers

Hawthorn blooms in spring, in May. The flowering period is short, so it is important not to miss the right moment for collection. It is not recommended to collect in rainy weather or in the morning when dew has fallen. Flowers must be dry and free of mold and insect damage. Inflorescences need to be plucked carefully or cut from the pedicels.

Pick off the petals from the buds and spread on a layer of parchment or lay out on a dry cloth. The place for drying should be shaded, without direct sunlight, with constant air movement. To protect the petals from insects, cover them with gauze or a thin cloth. In the process of drying, periodically turn over.

Dried petals must be collected in glass containers, wooden containers or fabric bags. You can use dried flowers for two years, observing the storage conditions.

Fruit drying methods

For drying, the fruits are harvested when they are fully ripe and become a rich red color. The collection starts from the beginning of September and continues until the end of autumn. The most suitable for harvesting are the fruits of the hawthorn Blood-red (Siberian) and Ordinary (Smoothed).

It is recommended to pick berries in a dry, warm, sunny weather. Fruits picked in rainy weather or in the morning during dew will take a long time to dry and may rot. The harvest is not harvested by one berry, but the whole bunch is carefully plucked - the fruits along with the shields.

After harvesting, the berries are not washed, but carefully sorted out. The stalks are removed, darkened, unripe fruits and those damaged by birds and insects are thrown away. Then start drying. There are several ways how to dry hawthorn, how to keep it for the winter at home so that it does not lose its beneficial properties throughout the entire cold period:

• on air;
• in the oven;
• in an electric dryer.

Air drying

Arrange the sorted berries in one layer on trays covered with thin paper or a clean, dry cloth, or lay the fruits on a grid. Then choose a place to dry. It should be well ventilated, protected from moisture and direct sunlight.

In the process of drying, the fruits from time to time need to be turned over for uniform drying, and spoiled ones should be removed. Drying is continued until the hawthorn is completely dry.. Dry berries do not contain moisture and have a bright red-brown color.

Drying in the oven

The prepared fruits are laid out in a single layer on a baking sheet. The baking sheet is placed on the middle level of the oven. The drying temperature in the oven is set in advance (60 degrees). The oven must be preheated to this temperature. The specified temperature regime is maintained until the end of drying. The oven door is left ajar so that the berries can dry rather than steam.

During drying, the fruits change shape and color.. To check the readiness (there is no specific time for drying in the oven), we take the berry in our hand and squeeze it tightly. If the berry is soft, continue drying. If the berry has hardened, the drying process is complete. You can take a few berries and squeeze tightly in your hand. If the fruits stick together, do not separate, continue drying. Dried fruits do not stick together and do not secrete juice.

Features of drying in an electric dryer

Put the berries on a tray and place it on the middle level (right in the center) so as not to overdry the fruits or dry them out. The temperature regime in the electric dryer (60 degrees) is set after the tray with the fruits has already been installed.

After one and a half to two hours, the temperature can be reduced to 40-50 degrees, and one and a half to two hours before readiness, increase again to 60 degrees. The total duration of drying in an electric dryer is 5-8 hours.

Storage conditions

We collect the dried hawthorn in cloth bags and in thick paper bags. Glass and wooden containers are also suitable for storage. Properly dried fruits can be stored for up to two years under the following basic storage conditions:

• dark cool place;
• dryness;
• lack of moisture and mold;
• absence of foreign odors.

Using dried berries

Dried berries are added to tea, coffee, compotes. On the basis of dried fruits, vitamin decoctions and tinctures are prepared, which can be taken both hot and cold.

Dry fruits can be crushed in a coffee grinder and add to the flour. This mixture is used for baking bread, pies. Ready-made pastries will have a light berry flavor, and will also be saturated with useful trace elements.

Hawthorn is good as a sedative for stress, nervous overload. Helps with eating disorders, as it has astringent properties. But when consumed, it should be remembered that these berries lower blood pressure and can disrupt the heart rhythm. In order not to harm your health, you need to consult and approve a doctor before taking it.

Properly collected and dried hawthorn retains its useful and healing properties all winter. It will help strengthen the immune system, restore physical strength after colds and flu. Therefore, it is worth spending a little time and effort to harvest and dry this wonderful berry.

Attention, only TODAY!

Hawthorn is not only an amazingly tasty, refreshing berry. It is also an indispensable assistant for angina attacks and cardiac neuroses. And with colds, indigestion, anemia, diabetes and a number of other diseases, a decoction of dried hawthorn berries will help. Eat hawthorn from time to time, and you will not have to resort to medicines often, for this is the case when food itself is the best medicine!

How to dry hawthorn

• Hawthorn (berries)

The most important thing is that the berries must be dry, that is, it is not necessary to collect them after rain or early in the morning, when the dew has not yet disappeared. Also, they should not be washed, but only cleaned of leaves and spoiled berries. Then you need to choose a dry and well-ventilated place where direct sunlight does not fall and spread the berries there on clean paper or on a dry towel in one even layer and not too thick.
Watch the drying process from time to time and sort through the berries. If in some places black-brown dots appeared on the berries, and they began to rot, remove them so that they do not spoil the neighboring fruits. In two or three weeks, your hawthorn will already be dried and all that remains is to put it in a glass vessel with a tight lid.
Keep in mind that the moth is very fond of dried fruits and willingly lays eggs in them, so if you put the berries in plastic bags, they will quickly become unusable, as the moth easily gnaws through the bags. Dried hawthorn should be stored in a dark place, such as a closet.

The right way to dry hawthorn

How to dry hawthorn in the oven

There is another way of drying - in an oven at a low temperature (not higher than 50-70 degrees), or in special devices for dried fruits, which can now be bought in household appliances stores. But the first way - although it takes more time, is still more gentle on the vitamins contained in the berries and makes them so useful. And besides, it does not require additional energy costs.
And finally, from hawthorn berries you can prepare a lot of tasty and healthy things for the winter - compotes, jams, juices, syrups, jams, etc. There are many fairly simple recipes for homemade hawthorn, which also do not take much time and money. But it is worth trying them to stock up on this not only appetizing, but also extremely healthy berry for the whole year until next autumn. After all, it is very reasonable to always have some hawthorn blank on hand.

How to dry hawthorn: video

This video describes in detail the process of drying hawthorn, explains in an accessible way how easy it is to do this procedure at home.

An easy way to dry hawthorn at home