04 11.15

In this article, I will tell you what it is to dry fruits and vegetables at home. It is easier than salting and marinating, and much more vitamins will be preserved.

It's best to dehydrate seasonal foods because they're fresh, affordable, and chemical-free.

In summer and autumn, a wide variety of fresh fruits, it is a sin not to take advantage of this. You can even dry watermelons.

But even in winter there is something to prepare - bananas, oranges, persimmons ... I really like dried bananas, I eat them with pleasure, for example, with tea instead of sweets.

By the way, we sometimes take discounted bananas in large quantities and fill our dryer with them to capacity)

Types of drying

• In an electric dryer

I dry it in the dryer. Before buying, we studied which is better. We bought one of the cheapest options, realized that it makes no sense to overpay for this product.

By the way, my dehydrator is even present in the design of the blog (it is visible only on wide screens). Who found?

• On air

Living in Vietnam (the photo above is from our balcony there), we have seen many times how the locals put fruit on the roof. We also took advantage of the weather and dried a delicious eggplant appetizer. By the way, do you want to know the recipe?

In Russia, this method of drying is not popular for obvious reasons.

If you have such an opportunity, for example, it was a hot day, and you are in the country with a harvest, then feel free to cut your plants into thin pieces, lay them out on the street under the scorching sun. You can also hang it on strings.

Don't forget to turn over your dried fruits. And keep an eye on the sky so they don't get in the shade or get caught in the rain.

• In the oven

This is a very common method, but, alas, not the most successful.

First, not all ovens have low temperatures. Secondly, there is often no airflow. Thirdly, they say gas ovens are completely harmful.

However, even if you have the most ordinary oven, you can still dry it.

We cut thinly, put it on a wire rack, you can put baking paper. Next, turn on the minimum temperature, blowing, if any. Be sure to stir or turn over from time to time.

Gas stove or no airflow - open the door. If the temperature is too high, then stir more often, make sure that it does not burn, periodically turn off the oven so that the temperature drops slightly.

• On battery

It is used, of course, only during the heating season. Otherwise, it is similar to drying in the open air.

Cleaning and cutting

A very important, literally fundamental step. Try to cut thinly, about the same. The thicker the piece, the longer it dries. And if the pieces are different, then dehydration will be uneven, which will bring you additional trouble.

Blanching and steaming

Some vegetables need to be blanched before drying. they should be placed in boiling water for 3-5 minutes, just be careful not to overcook them.

If you are afraid that too many trace elements will be lost during cooking, then you can hold the vegetables in a double boiler for several minutes. Don't have a steamer? It doesn't matter, a pot + colander will save you.

Blanching should be:

• String beans
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Carrot
• cauliflower
• Green pea
• Potato
• Spinach

Storage

First, dried foods must be completely cooled. Then it is necessary to pack in an airtight moisture-proof container. These can be tight plastic bags with a zipper, after filling which excess air should be squeezed out.

In addition to bags, you can use glass or plastic jars with a tight-fitting lid.

Store in the dark, cool and dry. Make sure that the sun's rays do not fall.

Recovery of dried foods

Despite the fact that many fruits are very cool to gnaw in dried form, including outside the home or even on a hike. You can restore them by soaking them for 15-30 minutes and then adding them to baked goods, stews and other dishes. Or, just eat and drink liquid (I think you tried to do this with dried apricots).

Dried fruits and dried vegetables are good to use in soups, compotes ... For soup, you can pre-soak vegetables. Although, when I was on a camping trip and cooked on a fire, we didn’t pre-soak anything, it didn’t spoil the dish at all.

Cooking marshmallows (figs)

It's basically a dried fruit puree. Like dried bananas, figs are great with tea and snacks outside the home.

Making pasta is very easy. We take fresh, or even already overripe fruits, remove the crust and bones, cut and throw into a blender for grinding. We add some water or juice, honey or other sweetener, but this is not necessary for juicy sweet fruits.

Experiment, try different combinations, for example, strawberry + banana, peach + pineapple, orange + pineapple, raspberry + apple, banana + coconut, mixed berries, apple + cinnamon. Add nuts - with them it’s generally very tasty and satisfying.

vegetable chips

Finely chop fruits such as zucchini, eggplant, cucumber. Salt, pepper, use your favorite seasonings, herbs. Dry before the vegetables become crispy. Bon Appetit!

Vegetable and mushroom powders

Mushroom soup, vegetable sauce…mmm…yummy.

Finely chopped or mashed foods dry to a state of brittleness. Then immediately grind in a blender. Don't forget to blanch the vegetables that require it.

Drying nuts

Personally, I get bored every time I wash nuts before eating, besides, I don’t like to eat them when they are wet. And you?

There is a way out - rinse several servings at once, put them in an electric dryer. This will take 2 to 6 hours. A stock of clean dry nuts is ready.

Drying time

The time depends on many factors, such as the moisture content of the products, the size of the pieces, the drying method, the humidity of the air, the density of the product, so there is no universal figure. Below I have created a table with the main products and the approximate dehydration time in the electric dryer.

The power of most dryers is small, so even if you have to dry for 36 hours, little electricity will be spent.

I present to you a table with an approximate drying time. And below it is a funny video, so watch the article until the end;)

PRODUCT	Qtyhours
an Apple	5-6
apricot	12-36
banana	8-38
berries (cut strawberries)	8-26 cherry 8-34
grape	8-38
Orange	8-16
peach	10-34
pear	8-30
green beans	8-26
beet	8-26
broccoli	6-20
cabbage	6-14
carrot	6-12
cauliflower	6-16
celery	6-14
eggplant	6-18
pumpkin	6-18
garlic	6-16
spicy pepper	6-14
onion	8-14
mushrooms	6-14
polka dots	8-14
Bell pepper	4-14
potato	6-18
tomato	8-24
zucchini	6-18
spinach

Drying is a method of preparing food that has been familiar to us since the Stone Age. The roots and fruits collected by Neanderthal beauties were hung in the shade in order to add to the broth from the mammoth leg in winter for taste and benefit. And the second leg was dried in the cold, cutting off a piece from it for months.

And today, "walking on dried bread" is one of the main factors in saving weight on a hike. Yes, you can buy ultra-modern equipment, the lightest tent, a sleeping bag weighing half a kilo, the most comfortable suspension, a weightless backpack - but all these efforts will go to waste if you put five cans of stew in this backpack, a kilogram of onions, carrots and sherbet, that is, increase at once unbearable weight! Drying also reduces the weight of products by 10 or more times. So, it's decided, we want to go light, as the Europeans say, Fast&Lite. We dry!

What can be dried and what cannot?

You can dry for a trip any vegetables, any fruits, any lean meat, cheese. Protein and carbohydrate products perfectly give off moisture and gain it back when soaked and cooked. You can even dry dried fruits! Especially dried apricots, which will go into morning porridge. But if you plan to eat it on the road without maceration, it is better to leave dried apricots as they are, a little undercooked, otherwise you will break your teeth.

You can not dry fatty foods: lard, butter, fatty meat. To keep the minimum required amount of fat in the diet, you will have to take a little fat and oil with you as is.

Still, perhaps, it makes no sense to dry cucumbers and radishes. They will not become fresh again, there is also little sense in cooking from them.

What to dry food in a hike?

There are three ways, each with its pros and cons:

Drying food for a camping trip on a home stove

There is an oven or a stove in every house, a stove dryer (it is called a “mushroom dryer”) is sold in hardware stores and costs about 700 rubles. Please note that it is only for gas stoves!

Advantages of drying on the stove / in the oven

Plus, drying on kitchen appliances, in general, is one - you do not need to start additional devices in the house. If there is an electric oven with an air grill, then it dries perfectly, the results are comparable to an electric dryer.

Cons of drying on the stove / in the oven:

There will be intense heat and stuffiness in the house before the trip for several days. Food, especially if there is no forced aeration in the oven, will need to be monitored periodically. Turn over with a spatula, remove already dried pieces and add new ones. There is a high probability of getting burnt products; heating in the oven with the door open is uneven. The gas stove and oven must not be left overnight for safety reasons. An open fire can blow out, but a mixture of gas and air is explosive. An electric stove is less dangerous, but it can also overheat, short out wires, etc. That is, it will take quite a long time to dry.

However, if you go camping once or twice a year, and not for long, that is, you need a little food, this is a viable option. Over the weekend, it is quite possible to dry food for a few days for the family.

Drying food outdoors naturally

Great option for drying breadcrumbs. For example, just cut the excess bread into cubes for a month and lay it out on a newspaper in a well-ventilated, dry and shady place. Not in the sun!

Herbs dry no less well in a draft: parsley, dill, basil, cilantro, celery, hot pepper. We just lay out or hang bunches of greens on a string and leave them for seven to ten days.

It is more difficult to dry vegetables and mushrooms in this way, but it is possible. Especially dense mushrooms and vegetables: potatoes, carrots, beets - you just need to cut them thinly.

Advantages of drying naturally:

Cons of drying naturally:

Meat cannot be dried in this way. Maximum - you can get quite heavy jerky, and even then, in a month and a half. Raw vegetables (tomatoes, sweet peppers, etc.) cannot be dried either. Rather large time costs: greens and bread are dried for a week, vegetables and mushrooms for up to two weeks.

Drying food with an electric dryer (dehydrator)

Progress does not stand still, and inquisitive minds have long figured out how to optimize the drying process. On sale today there are special electric dryers or, as they sometimes write, dehydrators. They cost from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles, and the life of a tourist and climber is greatly facilitated.

Electric dryers differ in the location of the fan (top or bottom), fan power, the presence or absence of a temperature controller and the number of pallets. In the conditions of a city apartment or a small cottage, it is more important not the power and volume of the dryer, but the low speed.

Advantages of drying food in an electric dryer:

A little labor, your task is to cut and arrange the products on pallets, and at the end of the process pour them into a bag. Drying of products is quite uniform. You may need to go up once or twice and swap the trays for more even drying of the entire volume of products. You can safely leave the electric dryer overnight if necessary. She hums quietly and does her job. You should not put it near the bed, but it will not interfere with anyone on the kitchen table. It is almost impossible to burn food in an electric dryer, unless you go away for the weekend and leave it on. The electric dryer dries any food containing moisture - from meat to peaches and tomatoes. The taste and color of food are perfectly preserved during drying.

Cons of drying food in an electric dryer:

You need to buy an electric dryer - these are expenses. But if you go camping at least two or three times a year, then it will definitely pay off in the first summer. In addition, an electric dryer will help to cope with the harvest in the country and with the gifts of the forest in the season. In general, the thing is inexpensive and useful.

The principle of drying is the same: all moisture must be evaporated from the product as carefully as possible. And for this you need a temperature in the region of 60-90 ° C and good ventilation.

How to dry vegetables and fruits of a dense, medium-moist structure on a hike

(apples, pears, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, eggplant, turnips, parsley roots, cilantro and celery)

Such vegetables are best cut into strips or half rings 3-5 mm thick. And it is convenient to dry, and the products will retain a pleasant appearance.

If we dry in the oven, then we lay out the chopped vegetables on a fine grill or gauze, turn on the oven to the minimum mode. We make sure that the door is ajar. We dry our straws, periodically turning the grate 180 ° for even heating, about 4 hours.

If we dry in an electric dryer, then put the chopped potatoes, carrots, eggplants into pallets, turn on the dryer and forget about it for three to five hours. Then we take it out and put it in a travel bag.

A set for a lagman for a group of 6-7 people: three potatoes, two carrots, two onions, two eggplants, two tomatoes, the meat was left behind the scenes. The total weight after drying is 80 grams. Just add noodles!

How to dry fruits and vegetables for camping with plenty of water

(tomatoes, sweet peppers, apricots, peaches, zucchini, cabbage)

The difference, in fact, is only in the method of cutting - they will have to be cut larger. Yes, yes, larger ones, because they will dry out many times more than unpretentious carrots. That is, we cut in semicircles, and if in strips, then the slice will turn out to be 5-10 mm thick. Apricots and plums are best dried by cutting the fruit in half and removing the pit. Such products will dry for 1-2 hours longer, and they will have to be turned over in the oven, otherwise you will not peel off the gauze or grate later! And so - everything is similar. We cut, lay out, monitor the uniformity of drying. As soon as the peel begins to crackle - take it out!

How to dry meat for camping

Now this is more difficult. There are quite a few recipes for drying meat, but there are three basic ones:

dried minced meat; "jerky"; boiled dried meat.

Choice of meat for drying

The general moment when preparing meat for drying is one: meat must be lean. Ideally, take the tenderloin, and the bird - the breast. You can dry rabbit meat, beaver meat, wild game - anything you like, the main thing is that there are no layers of fat.

Beef or lamb tenderloin, however, is expensive, especially if you go on a multi-day trip and you need to stock up a lot of meat. Therefore, any part cut from the bone and cleaned of fat and large films will do. Besides, borscht can be boiled from a sugar bone with fat, eat it before the start, saturate the body with fats, which we will take with us on a hike to a minimum.

Dried minced meat in the oven

An old and quite viable recipe.

We take meat, namely peeled meat, and not ready-made minced meat - and we pass it through a meat grinder. You can add salt to minced meat, or you can not add it - you get pure protein. We lay it out on a baking sheet in the oven with a layer of about 2 cm thick, turn on the oven at 100 ° C, open the door slightly and leave to dry for seven hours. We scrape the minced meat from the baking sheet and pass it through the meat grinder again. We put it back in the oven - dry it for another three hours, at 60 ° C.

If necessary - again through a meat grinder. But usually twice is enough. It turns out such lumps that look like dog food, but smell delicious, rich in protein and very light!

You can also dry minced meat in an electric dryer, but then you need to lay it out not in a continuous layer, but in strips. The second time you do not need to grind it, because the minced meat will begin to turn into powder and crumble to the bottom of the dryer. Let it dry for 8 hours. Before packing in plastic jars or bags, the strips must be kneaded with a mortar or hands.

About nutrition and water-salt regime for climbers and mountain tourists

Drying fruits and vegetables is an old way of preserving them. Previously, to preserve food, they used a lot of salt and dried them in the sun or on gas burners.

Now there are special dryers that help in this process.

Drying vegetables and fruits, as well as berries, is a safe method of preserving them because water is removed from them. And since there is no water, mold and bacteria will not grow on them, and thus they will not deteriorate.

Choosing the Right Drying Method

Drying in the sun
This is quite difficult to do, because it requires 3 sunny days in a row, at least with a temperature of 37 °C.

Drying in the oven
Oven drying is a suitable method, but it does not save energy and the food loses flavor as a result. If your oven does not reach 93°C, you can try another drying method. The oven door must be kept ajar to allow air to circulate during the entire process.

Electric dryer
This is the best way to dry food. Electric dryers are quite energy efficient and can operate at the low temperatures needed to preserve the nutritional value of foods. In an electric dryer for products, there must be a heat control and a fan to create air circulation.

Drying process of fruits and vegetables

When drying food, do not keep the temperature too high or too low. Low temperatures can lead to bacterial growth on foods. Too high a temperature will cause the food to brown instead of drying.
Under-dried foods will spoil, and over-dried foods will lose their flavor and nutritional value. Food must be dried at 49-60°C. You can start drying at a high temperature, and after an hour reduce it. During the last hour of drying, the temperature must be set to a minimum. During the whole process, turn over the products and rotate the pallets.
You can find out about the completion of drying by touching the products, while they should be hard without pockets of moisture. When checking fruit, you can break a piece in half. Stripes of moisture along the break will indicate that the fruit is not yet dried. The flesh should be firm and not crunchy. Vegetables can be tough and crunchy.
When storing dried foods, remember that moisture must not get into the containers.
Dried foods absorb moisture from the air, so storage containers must be airtight. Some suitable storage containers are jars and plastic freezer bags.
Fruit marshmallow is placed in cling film and stored in an airtight container.
Store containers of dried foods in a cool, dark and dry place, preferably at 16°C.

Vegetable Drying Guide

All vegetables except onions, peppers and mushrooms should be washed, cut into slices and dipped in water for a while. The vegetables are laid out on a pallet in a single layer and dried. Drying time may take longer depending on conditions. Dry the vegetables at 55°C.

green beans
Clean and chop the beans into 2.5 cm pieces. Dip in hot water. Dry 6-12 hours until they become brittle.

Beet
Boil and clean the beets. Cut into pieces of 6 mm. Dry 3-10 hours until they become stiff. Broccoli. Cut and dry 4-10 hours.

Carrot
Peel, cut into slices or chop. Dry 6-12 hours until brittle.

Cauliflower
Cut and dry 6-14 hours. Corn. Clean the cobs after blanching and dry for 6-12 hours until brittle.

Mushrooms
Brush but do not wash. Dry at 32°C for 3 hours and then at 52°C for the remainder of the time. Dry 4-10 hours until brittle.

Onion
Cut the onion into 2.5 cm thick rings. Dry for 6-12 hours until crispy.

Peas
Dry 5-14 hours until brittle.

Bell pepper
Remove seeds and cut into pieces. Dry 5-12 hours until firm.

Potato
Cut into circles 3 mm thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crispy.

tomatoes
Dip in boiling water to separate the skin, peel, cut into circles or divide into 4 parts. Dry 6-12 hours until crispy.

Zucchini
Cut into circles 3 mm thick and dry for 5-10 hours until brittle.

Fruit Drying Guide

All fruits should be washed, pitted and cut into circles or slices. Place in one layer on pallets. Dry fruit at 57°C. You can pre-treat the fruit with lemon juice or ascorbic acid. They will not darken while you prepare them for drying. Cut the fruit into slices or circles and soak in water for 5 minutes.

Apples
Peel, remove the seed pod and cut into 9mm thick rounds or 6mm thick slices. Pre-treat and dry 6-12 hours until they are soft and pliable.

apricots
Cut in half and turn inside out. Pre-treat and dry 8-20 hours until soft and pliable.

Bananas
Peel, cut into 6 mm thick circles and pre-process. Dry 8-16 hours until soft and pliable or almost crispy.

Blueberry
Dry 10-20 hours until stiff. Cherry. Cut in half and dry for 18-26 hours until stiff and slightly sticky.

Peaches
Peel off the skin, cut in half or quarters. Pre-treat and dry 6-20 hours until soft and pliable.

Pears
Peel, cut into 6 mm thick pieces and pre-process. Dry 6-20 hours until stiff.

A pineapple
Remove the core and cut into circles 6 mm thick. Dry for 6-16 hours until it becomes hard and non-tacky.

Strawberry
Cut in half or slices 6 mm thick. Dry 6-16 hours until soft and pliable or almost crispy.

For more information on drying some vegetables, fruits and apples:

dried eggplant
In August, during the ripening season of vegetables, in Eastern countries you can almost everywhere hang garlands of eggplant and peppers, which are dried so that in winter you can cook a lot of tasty and healthy dishes without buying tasteless and expensive winter vegetables.
Depending on what the hostess plans to cook, eggplants are cut - in halves for dolma, strips or cubes, for soups, stews and pilaf.

In Eastern countries, as already mentioned above, vegetables are dried in the sun, because. firstly, gas or coal for stoves are not cheap, and secondly, it’s too hot outside to still heat the kitchen with gas or heat the stove. Thirdly, with such heat and sun, it’s somehow stupid to spend resources and make yourself unnecessary difficulties .

And so, for drying, the eggplants are washed and the stalks are removed.

For dolma, this is the most popular type of cutting.
Eggplants are cut in half, then the pulp is carefully cut out of them, the walls of the resulting “glass” should not become thinner than 0.5 cm.
Then, with the help of a gypsy needle and a thick thread, the eggplant halves are strung on a thread at a small distance from each other, if you string too tightly, the eggplant will begin to rot.
Eggplants are dried either in a dry, ventilated room, or on the street under a canopy, or on a balcony, so that direct sunlight does not fall on them.
Otherwise, eggplants will burn out in the sun and lose their taste.
In rainy weather and at night, eggplant garlands are removed into the house.
If there are a lot of flies, eggplants are covered with gauze.
Dried eggplant for about 3 weeks. And then stored in a dry place.
Now eggplants are not bitter and almost no one bothers with pre-treatment of eggplants.
In addition, before use, dried eggplants are brewed in boiling water, so, in my opinion, preliminary heat treatment is not needed.
Sometimes, after drying, ready-made eggplants are put in a large pot or tank, or a bucket and covered with a lid, it is believed that in this way the moisture of dried and under-dried vegetables is evenly distributed.
In our conditions, you can dry eggplants in the same way - on the balcony or on the street, or in the oven (gas is not so expensive with us). To do this, eggplants are cut into halves, strips or small pieces.
Then they are laid out on a baking sheet, in one layer. The baking sheet is placed in the oven for 3-4 hours. Preheat the oven to 100 C and not higher than 150. The door should be ajar by about 5-10 cm.
During drying, the pieces must be turned over or mixed so that there is uniform drying.
Sometimes dried in several stages.
Drying time, then cool. Drying hour - cool until the eggplant is dry like mushrooms.
Store in boxes or jars. And garlands are hung in a dry room, or stored in a bag.

Apples

The best for drying are the fruits of the varieties Pouring white, Breading, Borovinka pineapple, Melba, Autumn striped, Pepin saffron. Of the new varieties, scab-immune varieties obtained at the All-Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding are recommended, since almost all of them have a high content of dry matter: Bolotovskoe, Solnyshko, Stroevskoe, Venyaminovskoe, Start, etc.

Apples should have firm flesh, darkening little in air, and thin skin.

The fruits are sorted, washed, allowed to drain, the apples are cut into circles 0.5-0.6 cm thick, while removing damaged areas and the seed chamber, and immediately immerse for 3-5 minutes in a solution of citric acid (2 g per 1 liter water) or table salt (1 tsp per 1 liter of water) so that they do not darken (they do the same with pears). Then the water is drained, the apple mugs are air-dried for 2-3 minutes, placed in a single layer on a sieve or baking sheet covered with white paper, or strung on twine. The initial temperature in the dryer should be 70-85°C.
To speed up the drying, the mugs of apples (if the apples are small, they are cut into halves, quarters or used whole) are turned over after 2-3 hours.

When the fruits lose about 2/3 of moisture, the temperature is reduced to 50-55°C. The whole drying lasts about 5-6 hours and is considered complete if the mugs or slices are not crushed with strong pressure with a finger. Undry Apples are removed from the pan or sieve and re-dried. Ready Apples are kept in a box or box for a week to even out the humidity. Well-dried Apples should be elastic, light cream to light brown in color.

Pears

Summer and autumn varieties containing at least 12% dry matter are suitable for drying. The fruits should be mature, with a small content of stony cells. It is recommended to use Bessemyanka, Tonkovetka, Autumn Bergamot, William Summer and others, as well as wild pears.

Fruits, depending on the size, are cut into halves or quarters (small ones are dried whole) and dipped in acidified or salted water. After the water drains, the slices are laid out on sieves or baking sheets and dried for 10-12 hours, first at 70-80°C, and finally at 50-55°C. Ready pears are kept in a box or box for 5-6 days to equalize moisture.

plums

The best varieties for drying are Hungarian plums and other large-fruited dark purple plums. It is from them that prunes are obtained. In the middle lane, unfortunately, there are no such varieties. However, you can dry plum and other varieties.

Plum fruits, however, like cherries, should be large, fleshy, with a small bone that easily separates from the pulp. Fruits damaged by the codling moth are not suitable for drying. Before drying, the plums are sorted by size, the stalks are removed, then they are washed and be sure to blanched, dipping for a few seconds in a boiling solution of baking soda (5-8 g per 1 liter of water). After that, the plums are immediately cooled in water and washed under running water. Thanks to these actions, the wax coating is removed, and a network appears on the skin of the plum, which speeds up drying.

Blanched plums are placed in one layer on a baking sheet and dried in three steps. First, 3-4 hours at 40-45°C, after which they are removed from the dryer or oven and kept for 4-6 hours. The second drying at a temperature of 60-65°C lasts 6-8 hours, the plums are turned over on a baking sheet and cooled again 4- 5 hours The third, final drying lasts 4-5 hours (until ready) at a temperature of 70-75°C. Ready plums do not release juice when pressed, they have dry pulp near the pits. Dried plums are also kept in a box for 5-6 days to equalize the humidity.

Cherry

The best varieties for drying are Vladimirskaya, Griot Ostheimsky, Black consumer goods, Zhukovskaya, Turgenevka, etc. The fruits must be fully ripe, dark red in color. They are sorted out, damaged or diseased, as well as the stalks are removed, washed, laid in one layer on baking sheets and dried in one step for 10-12 hours, first at 50-55°C, then at 70-75°C. Cherries, like plums, can be blanched.

Rose hip

Ripe, firm to the touch rose hips of bright red color are suitable for drying. It is sorted, overripe, damaged and soft fruits, stalks and inflorescences are removed, washed, allowed to drain, laid out on a baking sheet and placed in an oven heated to 100 ° C for 8-10 minutes. After that, they are poured onto another baking sheet or sieve and dried at 65-70 ° C. Rosehips dried in this way contain a large amount of vitamin C.

different berries

They also dry raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, black currants and other berries. They are sorted out, rotten and damaged are removed, cleaned of twigs, leaves, stalks. Berries with a thick, dense skin (cranberries, black currants) are blanched before drying. Prepared berries are laid out on a sieve in a thin layer and dried in the sun for one day, then 2-4 hours in a drying cabinet, depending on the type and size of the berries. The temperature in the oven is 45-50°C. Dried berries are laid out in an open box, kept for two days.

Preparing dried food for meals

Dried foods must be soaked or boiled before being used in recipes. Some foods need to be soaked and boiled. Vegetables are usually soaked for ½–1 ½ hours and then stewed. Some vegetables can be regenerated during cooking.

The fruits are soaked and then boiled in the same water. Don't add more sugar until the fruit is cooked, otherwise it will be tough. The fruit is sometimes consumed dried as a snack. It must be remembered that after the products are restored, they quickly deteriorate, so they need to be consumed quickly.

To prepare dried foods, use the following information and simmer until softened.

Apples: Add 1 ½ cups of warm water to 1 cup of apples and soak for ½ hour.

green beans: 2 ¼ cups boiling water per 1 cup beans and soak 1 ½ hours.

Beet: 2 ¾ cups boiling water to 1 cup beets and soak 1 ½ hours.

Carrot: Add 2 ¼ cups boiling water to 1 cup carrots and soak for 1 hour.

Corn: Add 2 ¼ cups boiling water to 1 cup carrots and soak for ½ hour.

Onion: Add 2 cups boiling water to 1 cup onion and soak for 1 hour.

Peaches: Add 2 cups warm water to 1 cup peaches and soak for 1 ¼ hours.

Pears: Add 1 ¾ cups of warm water to 1 cup of pears and soak for 1 hour.

Peas: Add 2 ½ cups boiling water to 1 cup peas and soak for ½ hour.

Potato: Add 1 ½ cups boiling water to 1 cup potatoes and soak for ½ hour.

RECIPES:

Dried tomatoes are something unimaginable: plain at first glance, they perfectly retain the concentrated taste and aroma of summer tomatoes, acquiring new, unexpected and slightly spicy notes along the way.
In Italy, whose San Marzano tomatoes are considered some of the best in the world, tomatoes are dried in the summer, under the scorching Mediterranean sun. However, in the absence of the Mediterranean sun, the most ordinary oven can come to the rescue - well, sun-dried tomatoes, which will be stored without problems for at least a year, can be used in dozens of ways: add to bread, salads, pasta, sauces, and just eat as very tasty snack, remembering summer.

Ingredients:
1 kg. plum tomatoes; olive oil; garlic; dried herbs; hot pepper; salt

Wash the tomatoes well and cut each one lengthwise. You can remove the seeds and all the liquid to make the tomatoes dry faster and more evenly, but you don't have to do this to retain the maximum flavor of the summer tomatoes (however, the place where the tomato is attached to the branch and the white flesh around it is better to remove in any case ). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, so that they do not touch each other.
In order not to guard the readiness of the tomatoes, you can dry them with an open oven. (See above “drying eggplant”). Then dry it in the sun, let's say on a towel, covered with gauze.

Please note that the time indicated above is a guideline, and readiness must be determined by the appearance of the tomatoes. If the tomatoes are shriveled, have acquired a darker shade, and the moisture has “gone” - then they are ready. In order not to miss this moment, you need to periodically look into the oven, and some time before the end, turn the baking sheet 360g so that all the tomatoes are dried evenly.

Now a few words about the storage of sun-dried tomatoes. Traditionally, tomatoes are placed in a jar and poured with olive oil. A little finely chopped garlic, dried herbs, hot chili, wine vinegar, salt, pepper and other spices can be added to the oil so that the sun-dried tomatoes gradually acquire an additional dimension of taste and aroma during storage. On the other hand, you can do it easier - put the tomatoes in a container with a lid (or the same jar) and close tightly: this way they are also stored well, and, importantly, retain their original taste.
On a note! In the East, tomatoes are dried in the sun, and stored strung on them.on an oiled thread (like garlands) hanging in a pantry or in a paper bag. So, if you do not want to store in oil, then choose this method. Before use, dried tomatoes should be kept in warm water and cut into a dish as you like. On shurpa (oriental soup with potatoes and vegetables) or roast, it is better to put tomatoes without slicing.

The meat is dried at a temperature of 63–66 °C. The meat is dried for 6-20 hours until it becomes soft and bendable. It shouldn't be brittle. Remove the layer of fat from the jerky while drying. Cured meat should not be stored for as long as fruits and vegetables. For long-term storage (more than a month), it should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator.

To age dried meat, it can be marinated with salt and spices. I used to use 1 ½ cups of marinade salt per 4 liters of water and soak strips of meat in it for two days.
As an alternative to soaking, the meat was also rubbed with salt and spices (garlic and pepper) before drying.

You can use one of the following marinade recipes: Leave the strips of meat in the marinade overnight.

Marinade for drying No. 1: 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup soy sauce ½ tsp ground garlic ½ tsp pepper 1 tsp salt 1 tsp liquid smoke

Marinade for drying No. 2: 1 tsp pepper 4 tsp salt 1 tsp ground garlic 1 tsp ground chili ½ cup water 1 tsp liquid smoke Curing Marinade #3 ½ cup vinegar 1 cup ketchup 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup brown sugar 1 tsp salt 2 tsp dry mustard ½ tsp pepper.

Dried fruits and vegetables recipes

Apple pie

Ingredients: 3 ½ cups dried apples; 2 cups of water; ¾ cup sugar; 1 tsp cinnamon

Boil apples until softened. Apples will recover during cooking and baking. Add sugar and cinnamon. Fill the mold, cover the top of the cake and bake for 30 minutes at 177°C.

cherry pie

Ingredients: 3 cups dried cherries; 3 cups of boiling water; ½ cup flour; 1 cup sugar.

Cover the cherries with water and soak for 30 minutes. Simmer and add sugar and flour to thicken. Pour into a mold and bake until crusty. Bake at 204°C for 35 minutes.

peach pie

Ingredients: 3 cups dried peaches; 3 cups of boiling water; 2/3 cup flour; 1 cup sugar; 2 tsp cinnamon; ¼ tsp nutmeg

Pour the fruit with water and soak for 30 minutes. Simmer and add sugar and flour to thicken. Pour into an oiled baking dish and decorate on top. Bake at 204°C for 30 minutes.

Corn puree

Ingredients: 1 cup dried corn; 4 cups of boiling water; 2h / l sugar; ½ cup milk; 1st / l flour; 1st / l margarine; Salt and pepper to taste

Dip the corn in water and leave for 30 minutes. Simmer until corn is soft. This may take 1 hour. Drain the water and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Mushroom soup with green beans

2 cups of boiling water; 1 cup dried beans; 1 can of canned mushroom soup

Dip beans in water and cook until softened. Add puree soup and stir.

Tomato puree soup

Ingredients: 1 tsp dried crushed tomatoes; ½ cup boiling water; 1st / l flour; ½ cup milk

Grind dried tomatoes with a blender or food processor. Add this powder to water and stir. Combine flour with milk and stir. Add this mixture to water with tomatoes. Simmer, stirring to prevent burning.

boiled fruits

3 cups dried fruit of your choice 2 cups of boiling water; 1 tsp cinnamon; Sugar to taste

Soak fruit in boiling water for 20 minutes. Allow 20 minutes, then add cinnamon and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and serve.

Vegetable soup

1 cup cooked meat, diced 3 cups dried vegetable mix Salt and pepper

Pour boiling water over dried vegetables and soak for 1 hour, then simmer for 2 hours until they become soft. You can add fresh vegetables if you don't have the ones you need.

Apple dessert: pastille

- this is not a plasticine mass, packaged in cardboard boxes, but a delicate, soft old Russian dessert, which our ancestors owned back in the 15th century. Marshmallow was common wherever sour varieties of apples were found. "Branded" cities: Rzhev, Tula, Belev, but the best was produced in the city of Kolomna. At least, that's what the inhabitants of this city, where the marshmallow museum is located, think. As part of the tour, they not only talk about the features of its preparation, generously flavoring the story with legends, but also give you a chance to try different types of marshmallow. So if you are a real fan, then you should visit the sweet Mecca.
You should not think that marshmallow was kneaded in every yard. It was a very complex and time-consuming process: pastilers in artels beat it for two or three days without stopping in several shifts. And it was very expensive: about 1.50 rubles per 1 kg. For comparison: a loaf weighing 400 g cost 4 kopecks, and a kilogram of chicken - 80 kopecks (average prices in the country).
The basis of marshmallow is sour apples: antonovka, titovka, wild species. They were poorly distributed in the warm climate of Western Europe, so there was no native marshmallow there. The idea of ​​the recipe rests on the fact that fruit raw materials, rich in natural pectins, which have the ability to gel quickly and efficiently, are brewed until puree is formed, and then honey is added to it. This ingredient was replaced with sugar in the 19th century, and as a result, marshmallow became much more affordable, and it even began to be exported to the West. An important component of marshmallow is egg whites, it is they that give the sweets a white color. The classic marshmallow was red, so when Kolomna confectioners received white marshmallow, it remained a curiosity for some time.
To prepare the marshmallow, all these ingredients are mixed and whipped until the mass doubles in volume. Then they pour it into a mold, and in the old days they simply smeared it with a thin layer on a fabric stretched over a wooden frame according to the hoop principle. That is why it was called "bed" - what needs to be "bed". Pastille should be dried for two days at a low temperature. Of course, this was much easier to do in a Russian oven than in a modern apartment, but there are housewives who still cook marshmallow at home, although more often the choice is made in favor of the factory version. The last stage - the marshmallow is cut into even pieces and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Apple pastille without sugar

Peel apples of any degree of ripeness, cut into slices, put in a saucepan, add a little water to the bottom, cover and boil over low heat, then cool and wipe through a colander. Lubricate the surface of the kitchen board with a very thin layer of vegetable oil and rub it thoroughly with a dry gauze swab. Put applesauce on the board in an even layer (not thicker than 0.8 mm - otherwise it will dry for a long time) and put in the sun or a draft. On the second day, when the puree dries a little, the board can be placed at an angle.
After three days, pry off the dry marshmallow with a knife and remove it from the board. This "apple napkin" should then be hung on a rope for 2 days. For long-term storage, fold the marshmallow in a pile, sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, twist tightly into a roll, put in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator.

(in the oven)

For 1 kg of apples - 200 g of sugar.

Wash the apples, remove the core with seeds, cut into small pieces, mix with granulated sugar, lay in a thick layer on a baking sheet. Do not add water. Place the tray in the hot oven. After boiling, lower the temperature in the oven. To prevent the mass from burning, periodically stir it with a spoon or spatula and cook until the mass becomes elastic and does not stick to the spoon. This usually takes 20 minutes after boiling.
Place the boiled mass on a sheet of foil or on a cold baking sheet sprinkled with granulated sugar, dry it at room temperature, sprinkle with granulated sugar and store in ordinary cardboard candy boxes in a cool, dry place.

For 1 kg of apple mass - 100 g of sugar.

Wash the apples, remove the core with seeds, cut into slices or circles, sprinkle with sugar, mix, put in an enamel pan, cover with a clean cloth, set the oppression and hold until the juice is released. Drain the resulting juice, spread the slices on a baking sheet and place in the oven for drying. The oven must be heated to 65°C. Transfer the dried apple slices to dry glass jars or linen bags. Store them in a dry place at room temperature. Separated apple juice can be used to make compotes, or preserved by boiling beforehand. Boiling pour the juice into jars and roll up the lids. Dried apples can be served with tea, used as a filling for pies or cooked from them compote.

Everyone knows what candied fruits are. They are pleasant to cook and then store, like jewelry, in boxes and jars.
Today, candied fruits and vegetables are used everywhere: they are added to pastries, jelly, ice cream and other dairy desserts, including cottage cheese, they decorate various confectionery products, in addition, fruit slices boiled in syrup are sometimes served as an independent sweet dish for tea or coffee instead of sweets. Candied fruits serve as an excellent filling for muffins, rolls, puffs.

In Russia, candied fruit has also been loved for a long time. Only they were called Kiev dry jam or "balabushki". The first mention of Kiev dry jam dates back to the 14th century. It was brought from Kyiv and served at the wedding feast of the Lithuanian prince Jagiello. In 1777, Catherine II issued a decree according to which dry jam from apricots, strawberries, strawberries, pears, dogwood, cherries, Hungarian plums, rose hips and pink, which she loved so much, was delivered to the court. Every autumn, stagecoaches with boxes and crates of Russian candied fruits went from Kyiv to St. Petersburg. In the middle of the 18th century, there was even a separate position - "candy apprentice of the Kiev imperial court."

The process of making candied fruits has not changed significantly since then. Fruits are pre-washed and dried well. Then they are dipped in saturated sugar syrup and boiled for a long time. At the next stage, the fruits, well soaked in syrup, are dried, after which they become similar to what we can see in the store. There is nothing difficult in making candied fruits yourself. All fruits, berries, citrus peels and zest are suitable for this, as well as some vegetables, such as pumpkin, carrots and zucchini.

It is worth noting that candied fruits and vegetables also have a number of useful properties that many other confectionery products do not have.

Very tasty are candied fruits from oranges and watermelons, more precisely, from their peels, which we usually throw away.

Candied watermelon rinds

Ingredients:
1 kg of watermelon peels, 1 kg of sugar, 200 ml of water, 5 g of citric acid, orange peel, almonds, lemon peel, vanilla - to taste.

Cooking:
For the preparation of candied fruit, use watermelons with a thick rind, as well as unripe melons, which are usually thrown away as inedible products, but they will be very useful to you in this case. Peel the watermelon rinds from the dense peel and soft part, cut into pieces of the same size, considering that they will boil down in the future, cover with water and cook for 3 minutes. Then drain the water, rinse the boiled pieces with cold water, pour boiling syrup made from sugar, water and citric acid. For flavoring, you can also add lemon or orange zest, almonds there. Boil watermelon peels until transparent, remove with a slotted spoon, dry and roll in powdered sugar.

Candied zucchini with honey and lemon

Ingredients:
1 kg of zucchini, 200 g of honey, 1 lemon, 500 g of sugar.

Cooking:
Wash the zucchini, peel and seeds, cut into rectangular pieces or cubes, sprinkle with sugar (200 g), put in the cold until the juice is released, then drain the juice. Wash the lemon, pour over boiling water, cut into small pieces along with the peel, remove the seeds, pour a glass of zucchini juice, heat and boil for 10 minutes, then pour the rest of the sugar (300 g) over it, cook the syrup over low heat (until the sugar is completely dissolved ). Pour the boiling syrup over the zucchini, add honey, put on a slow fire and cook until tender (until the zucchini becomes transparent and the syrup is thick like honey). Remove zucchini from syrup, dry and roll in powdered sugar. Place the finished candied fruits in candy boxes for storage, and use the remaining syrup with lemon slices as regular jam.

candied plums

Ingredients:
1 kg of plums, 1 kg of sugar, 1 g of ascorbic acid.

Cooking:
For the preparation of candied fruits, the bones can not be removed. If you are preparing candied pitted plums, cut the fruit across, not lengthwise - in this case, the skin does not twist during cooking. Place the prepared plums in a wide-bottomed saucepan, sprinkle with sugar and leave to separate the juice. After that, boil the fruits until the juice turns into a thick syrup. Remove the plums from the syrup and lay them out on foil or parchment paper to dry. If dried plums are dipped in hot syrup two or three more times, drying them each time, you get a very tasty plum in caramel.

Candied sugar beets

Ingredients:
1 kg of sugar beets, 3 g of citric acid, 100 g of sugar, 500 ml of water, lemon peel, vanillin or other flavoring of your choice.

Cooking:
Wash the beets, peel and cut into pieces of the same size (cubes or slices), add water, add sugar, citric acid and boil over low heat until all the liquid has evaporated. For flavoring, beets can be boiled together with lemon or orange zest, honey, cardamom or vanilla. As in previous recipes, dry the beets and roll in powdered sugar.

Candied pumpkin with orange

Ingredients:
1 kg pumpkin, 1 orange, 200 ml water, 800 g sugar.

Cooking:
Wash the pumpkin, remove the peel and seeds, cut into cubes or cubes, sprinkle with a little sugar. When the juice comes out of the pumpkin, drain it. Wash the orange, pour over boiling water, cut into small pieces along with the peel, remove the seeds, cover with boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.
Pour sugar with orange broth (along with orange slices), put on a slow fire and cook until sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour the prepared pumpkin pieces with boiling syrup. Put the cooled mass on a slow fire and cook until tender (pumpkin pieces are transparent, and the syrup is thick). Remove the boiled pumpkin pieces from the syrup, dry them, roll in powdered sugar and place in a confectionery box.
Use the remaining syrup with orange slices as jam, and the remaining fresh pumpkin juice can be brought to a boil, immediately poured into sterilized jars and rolled up. This juice will be especially useful for children, and adults are unlikely to refuse it when they try it.
No wonder they say that "carrots polish the blood." This is a very useful and valuable vegetable containing many useful substances. If you want to eat not only tasty, but also healthy sweets, prepare candied carrots. To prepare this delicacy, it is better to choose young, fresh carrots - it will provide the most pleasant taste and benefits.

Candied carrots

Ingredients:
1 kg of carrots, 1.2 kg of sugar, 1.5 stack. water, citric acid (at the tip of a knife).

Cooking:
Wash and clean carrots. Cut into medium-sized pieces or thin strips. Boil the water and boil the carrots in it for 10 minutes, then cool the slice in cold water. Boil the syrup: add sugar to the water, boil and wait until the sugar has completely melted. Dip the carrot pieces into the boiling syrup and boil for 15 minutes.
After that, leave the carrots to infuse in syrup for 10 hours. Repeat this procedure 3 times. At the end of cooking, add citric acid and cool. Strain the carrot pieces through a colander and place them on parchment-lined plates or baking sheets.
The syrup can be closed in sterile jars - it will come in handy for impregnation or the preparation of icing for baking.
Dry the carrots in the oven at the lowest temperature or with the door open until tender, or for several days at room temperature in a well-ventilated area. You can use an electric dryer.
Roll candied fruits in powdered sugar and place in jars with airtight lids.
You can cook very tasty fragrant candied fruits from any berries. For example, take the berries of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, red and black currants, cherries and place them on a clean baking sheet in one row, sprinkle with sugar (200 g of sugar is required for 1 kg of berries) and put in an oven preheated to 200 ° C, for 20 minutes. As soon as the berries boil over the entire surface, make sure that they do not burn and warm evenly. Then pour the hot berries onto foil and dry, and pour the thick juice remaining on the baking sheet into a jar and use, for example, as a sweet sauce or an additive to jelly and compotes.
When serving, add any nuts to the candied berry mixture.

Candied orange peels

Ingredients:
1 kg of orange peels, 1 kg of sugar, 200 ml of water, 5 g of citric acid.

Cooking:
Rinse the orange peels, cut into cubes, fill with water so that they are completely covered with it, and cook for 5 minutes, then pour the broth. From sugar and water, boil the syrup by adding citric acid to it. Dip the boiled orange peels into the syrup and simmer until they are translucent. Remove them from the syrup with a slotted spoon and dry them by spreading them on parchment paper or foil.
Dried candied fruits roll in powdered sugar and put in a box (can be from under sweets or cookies). Store at room temperature. Use the remaining syrup to flavor confectionery or for further preparation of candied fruits.
Take in the palm of your hand some multi-colored candied fruits prepared by you and admire: a scattering of sunny, like amber, and transparent candied fruits in the palm of your hand is like precious stones - each of them seems to have caught a sunbeam.
It is impossible to resist tasting at least a small piece - feel the sweetness and aroma, reminiscent of honey and flower nectar, melting and taking you to the world of dreams and hot summer.

Candied apples

The process of preparing candied fruits from apples is not at all complicated. Having prepared such candied fruits, you will stock up on a tasty and healthy delicacy for the whole winter.

Ingredients: 1 kg. apples 1.2 kg. Sahara; 2 glasses of water

Preparation of candied fruits:
* Apples cut into slices or halves, depending on the size. Small apples can be cooked whole by piercing them on several sides with a hairpin.
* Boil water in a large saucepan and dip the apples into it for 5-7 minutes.
* Take out the apples and immediately put them in cold water and cool them.
* In the water where the apples were boiled, add sugar and, stirring constantly, wait until it dissolves, forming a syrup.
* Remove apples from cold water, transfer to a bowl and pour over hot syrup.
* Leave for 6 hours, then boil again and cool. In general, the procedure must be repeated 2-3 times - the apples should become transparent.
* After that, put the apples in a colander and let drain as much syrup as possible.
* Put the apples on a sheet lined with parchment and dry in the oven or in the open air.
* Sprinkle dried candied fruit with sugar or powdered sugar and store in a tightly closed container in a dark place. The syrup can be closed in sterile jars and used for baking and sweet desserts.

Candied apples can be stored for a year, until the next harvest, while retaining all the beneficial properties of the fruit. After all, apples are a real storehouse of vitamins and minerals. They contain a lot of iron and pectin, which slow down the aging process, remove cholesterol, improve the functioning of the stomach and prevent the occurrence of tumors.

Eating 2 apples a day, preferably on an empty stomach or separately from other food, you bring great benefits to your body. Due to the large amount of iron contained in apples, they help strengthen the immune system, help with anemia and ailments. Apples are good for indigestion and indigestion as a mild fixative. Fresh apples are recommended as the first food for children, because they absolutely do not cause allergic reactions.

Candied apples undergo minimal heat treatment and therefore retain all the valuable properties of apples. Candied apples can be served as a separate treat, and can also be used as a filling for cakes, pies, pancakes, casseroles and other dishes.

Candied pear

For them, it is best to choose hard winter varieties, you can also use unripe pears or fruits that have lost their “marketable appearance”. Properly prepared candied pears will retain all the beneficial properties of these fruits and their excellent aroma and taste.

Candied pears can be prepared by cutting the pears into slices and removing the middle from them, or you can make candied fruits from whole pears. After all, it is believed that the dense middle and seeds of pears contain the greatest amount of useful substances and it is recommended to eat a pear “to the tail”. So let's get started.

Ingredients: 1.5kg. pears; 3 glasses of water; 0.5-0.7kg. Sahara; powdered sugar or sand for dusting

Preparation of candied fruits:
* Wash the pears, pierce them in several places with a hairpin (if you are making candied fruits from whole fruits), or peel them from the seeds, cut into small pieces of any shape.
* Place in a large saucepan and cover with boiling water.
* Strain, draining the water into a separate pan.
* Boil the syrup on this water: add sugar, boil and wait until the sugar has completely melted.
* Dip the pieces of pears in boiling syrup, boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat and cool at room temperature. Repeat this procedure 4 times.
* After the 4th cooking, the pears will become glassy-transparent. They are filtered, allowing the syrup to drain completely.
* Spread the pears on parchment and dry for several days.

On the 2nd day, you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar and, if necessary, repeat this procedure several more times during the drying process.

candied pumpkin

It turns out that candied fruits can be prepared not only from fruits, but also from vegetables. Delicious candied fruits can be obtained from a pumpkin. For them, you need to choose sweet varieties of pumpkin for making cereals.

Pumpkin is a very useful vegetable, indispensable in the cold season. She pleases us with her great taste and aroma, when many other fruits have already departed. Candied pumpkins make a wonderful treat that can be eaten alone or used in baked goods or sweet desserts.
The procedure for preparing candied fruits is somewhat reminiscent of cooking jam, but with some features and subtleties. So let's get started...

Ingredients: 1 kg. pumpkins; 400 g of sugar; 200 ml. water; 1 lemon or orange; a little ground cinnamon; powdered sugar

Preparation of candied fruits:
* Wash the pumpkin, remove the peel and seeds and cut into small cubes or stripes. Cut the lemon or orange into slices.
* Pour sugar in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium heat with constant stirring. When the sugar is completely dissolved in boiling water, the syrup is ready.
* Put chopped pumpkin and lemon (orange) into the syrup. Boil for about 5 minutes, cool and boil again for 5 minutes. Pumpkin should be soft.
* Throw the pumpkin in a colander and put it on a baking sheet covered with parchment.
* Dry for about 1 hour in the oven at a temperature of 130 degrees, or in the open air for 2-3 days.
* Roll the finished candied fruits in powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon.

ABOUT CANDIED

It is best to store candied fruits in glass, tightly closed. There is another way to store: do not dry, and do not cover candied fruits with sugar, but hot, put them together with syrup in sterile jars and seal hermetically, like regular jam.

In the future, they can be used for layering cakes, decorating cakes and adding to pastries.

The name of this appetizing delicacy comes from the Latin "sucus" - "juice". In Italian, it sounds like "succada", in German - "zukkade", and the Russians simply borrowed it, replacing the voiced "d" with a soft "t".

This event took place in the 14th century, when “dry jam” was first brewed in Kyiv, as candied fruit was then called, and brought to the wedding feast of the Lithuanian prince Jagiello in 1386. But candied fruits gained wide popularity and fame in Russia much later. In the 18th century, Catherine II, who was very fond of candied fruits, issued a decree on the supply of candied fruits to the court.

At the same time, the first dry jam store appeared in Kyiv, opened by the merchant S.S. Balabukha. His products subsequently received many awards.

Now the market offers a huge number of different sweets, but not all of them are good for health. Candied fruits are made from natural raw materials and are a very good solution for a holiday or an occasion when you just want to eat something sweet. The best candied fruits are homemade candied fruits. But if you still decide to buy candied fruits in the store, you should pay attention to some features.

On the shelves you can see a large number of candied fruits, which are full of all the colors of the rainbow. They attract attention, they immediately want to buy. But do not rush to do this - most likely, there are dyes in these colorful candied fruits. It is easy to check the presence of the dye: you need to dip a piece of candied fruit into boiling water - if the water turns colored, then the dye is definitely there.

Natural candied fruits, without any additives, look very unattractive compared to their “chemical neighbors”, but these sweets are worth buying if you care about your healthy diet. Often sellers can convince you, for example, that bright red candied fruits are dried pieces of mango or other exotic fruits. But most often it's just colored pineapples, which are boiled in sugar syrup with dye. In this way, you can prepare candied fruits of different colors and, supposedly, from different tropical fruits.

Good, quality candied fruits should not be too wet and sticky, but at the same time should not be too hard. It is easy to check this - just press your fingers on the candied fruit in plastic packaging - it should be moderately elastic and should not release juice when pressed.

• Pre-treatment is recommended for fruits that quickly oxidize (apricots, apples, peaches, berries, etc.): they should be heated to 100 ° C, then cooled, and after that they should be mashed.
• Place a solid tray on a sieve, lightly grease it with vegetable oil so that the finished marshmallow does not stick to the tray.
• Distribute the prepared mass evenly over the pallet, while making the layer in the middle thinner than along the edges. .
• No more than 2 cups of puree should be used per pallet.
• You can check the readiness by stickiness in the center: the finished one practically does not stick.
• Remove the marshmallow while still warm, then roll it into a tube, cool, wrap with cling film and place in an airtight container. Marshmallow will keep much longer in the refrigerator.

Temperature - 60°С

Time - 12-14 hours

Pasta is a great appetizer. It can be reconstituted by diluting with water or juice and used as a sauce or puree. It is easy to make a wonderful dessert for children from marshmallow - as a layer in biscuits or filling for pies. To make jam without sugar, three parts of marshmallow must be poured with one part of boiling water. Marshmallow is prepared from fruit or vegetable puree or grated fruit, but then the layer turns out to be thick. Previously, at your own discretion, the workpiece can be boiled and sweetened with sugar or honey.

Vegetables are an integral part of the human diet. People are actively engaged in growing vegetables in summer cottages and their subsequent harvesting. Fresh, ripe root crops are rich in vitamins and microelements useful and necessary for the body. But not everyone knows that storage, even in its original form, comes to a gradual loss of benefits, not to mention the vegetables that have undergone heat treatment. So how to be? How to keep the maximum amount of benefits in grown products? The best option is to dry them, because after drying, the fruits are guaranteed to retain almost all of their nutrients for six months. After this period, the fruits begin to gradually lose their benefits. How to dry vegetables properly? More about this.

How to choose fruits

What vegetables can be dried? Any vegetable can be dried. Some of them require additional preparation before drying. But if you want to make useful supplies, you can safely choose any fruit that is needed.

Particular attention should be paid to the condition of the fruit. It is not necessary to take overripe specimens that have lost their density and elasticity, it is unlikely that they will be dried, but it is easy to spoil the rest of the product. For drying, you should choose elastic ripened vegetables that are not spoiled or damaged by insects. If the lesions are small, then you can cut them off and leave a good part for dehydration.

Advice! Preference for drying at home is still given to low-juicy types of vegetables. This is due to the fact that juicy specimens dry out a lot and a very small amount of the final product is obtained.

Greens are the most popular for drying. Moreover, not only herbs grown specifically for this purpose are dried, but also the tops of vegetables, which often surpass the root crop in terms of the content of nutrients.

Preparing vegetables

Before proceeding directly to drying, the fruits and root crops should be prepared. First of all, it is necessary to wash and dry the selected vegetables. Remove all unnecessary. If necessary, clean the product, for this it is better to use a special knife for vegetables. It will allow you to cut off a smaller part of the useful part of the fetus. Many housewives, in general, do not advise cleaning, but washing it more thoroughly. This is due to the fact that the main benefit is concentrated in the part of the peel.

Some vegetables require additional heat treatment and must be blanched in boiling water for 10-20 minutes depending on size. Be sure to boil beets, carrots, peas, broccoli, beans and potatoes. This allows you to keep the color and avoid darkening of the pieces of vegetables. If you do not want to lose some of the vitamins due to cooking, you can steam the food. Pumpkin is advised to soak in syrup with lemon juice before drying.

After the vegetable is washed, cleaned and additionally prepared, it should be cut. How exactly to cut the product depends on the preferences of the harvester. You can cut into cubes, straws, circles or just rub on a coarse grater. It is important to ensure that the pieces are of the same thickness. Otherwise, drying root crops at home will be much more difficult, even in an air grill. Thick pieces can turn out to be underdone and start to deteriorate, which, in turn, will ruin the entire harvest, especially if we dry vegetables for the winter.

How to dry vegetables

How to dry vegetables? There are many ways. Firstly, you can dry it naturally, this is the longest, but the best way regarding the preservation of benefits and taste. Secondly, you can dry the product in a dryer, in a microwave or in an air grill. Some at home are dried even on a room battery.

Natural drying

The best way to dry fruits and root vegetables at home is to place them outdoors. With all the advantages, the method is also the most time-consuming. It is important to ensure that the product is located in the sunniest possible location, while being away from motorways and other sources of dust and pollution. Most often, vegetables are dried in this way in the country or in a country house.

In addition, it is important that flies and other insects do not get to the vegetables. To do this, you need to organize a canopy of gauze fabric. At night, you need to bring the product into the room and take it back after the dew has completely disappeared. If root crops are placed on trays, then they should be lined with paper towels or paper to absorb moisture.

Under no circumstances should newspapers be used. They will spoil the taste of the blanks and provide them with the content of toxic substances from the composition of the printing ink.

When drying the product, it is important to ensure that all the pieces become dried, for this you need to turn over and mix the pieces. Delete those that have deteriorated. After some time, pieces of vegetables, if they are large, can be put on threads and hung up. The total drying time for vegetables naturally lasts up to two weeks.

Dry in the oven

Most often, at home, housewives prefer to dry vegetables in the oven or oven. In them, the drying process is noticeably reduced and a dried billet is obtained, already after 6-12 hours, depending on the size of the pieces.

The oven must be heated to a temperature of 70 degrees and place the vegetables laid out on a baking sheet there. It is important to remember that fruits should be dried in a gas oven with the fire turned off, since combustion products are very harmful to vegetables. It is necessary to heat the oven to place the product in it, after the oven has cooled down, you should pull out the blanks and warm it up again.

Root crops should be dried in an electric cabinet with the door ajar so that the moisture evaporating from them comes out. This can be omitted if there is an internal convection function. Pieces of vegetables should be stirred periodically to ensure uniform drying. If vegetables are dried on several baking sheets, be sure to change them periodically.

Use microwave and air fryer

These options to get a dried product at home are the fastest. In an air grill, it is easiest to dry root crops. It is necessary to lay it out on the grates and set the temperature to 60 degrees, turn on the fan at full power. In an air grill, the fruits will dry on average in 3-6 hours, depending on the size.

The microwave drying method is the most interesting of all. This device is able to dry the product in minutes. To do this, take a suitable flat dish, cover it with a napkin or paper towel. Arrange the sliced ​​blanks in one row and cover with another napkin on top. In addition to the product itself, you need to place a glass of water in the microwave and maintain the presence of liquid in it.

The device must be switched to maximum power and put the product for three minutes. Check readiness and if the root crops are not completely dried, turn on the microwave for another 40 seconds.

The main thing is not to dry the vegetables too much. It is worth noting that you can also dry vegetables in an air grill if you do not adjust the temperature regime.

Dryer for vegetables

Some craftsmen build special dryers for fruits and root crops. As a rule, they represent a structure similar to a perforated metal cabinet with sliding shelves located inside.

This design is installed on the stove and turn it on. The heat coming from the included plate dries the product, and the holes create the necessary ventilation, while the temperature regime is easily regulated by turning the burners on and off.

In such dryers, it is also desirable to interchange the shelves on which the blanks are located, since the intensity of drying from the lower layer to the upper one varies.

Dried fruits and root vegetables can be used in different ways. They can be added to soups. In this case, during the cooking process, the products will take their original shape. You can simply soak the root crops and after 15-20 minutes they will again be the same size. After that, they can be added to stews or simply fried. In addition to home use, dried foods can be taken on trips, they will help to prepare an excellent dish on a fire and take up a minimum of space. Most importantly, during the drying process, fruits and root crops retain both taste and maximum benefits.