Apricots are one of the most unusual fruits. Apricots are delicious and have delicate aroma. To prolong the pleasure of apricots in winter time, they are harvested for the winter in the form of jam, compotes. But all these preparations are associated with the addition of sugar, and this is not entirely beneficial for humans. Dried apricots are much more valuable.

Dried pitted fruits are called dried apricots. At the bazaars you can often see attractive orange dried apricots. At home, such an attractive type of apricot cannot be obtained.

The thing is that when drying an apricot for dried apricots, it is treated with sulfur dioxide to avoid blackening of the product. For baby food you should not take such dried apricots. No matter how well you wash the dried apricots, the chemistry will still remain in it. You can dry the fruits without the use of chemicals at home. To dry apricots, it is necessary to select only ripened fruits without any damage and not wormy. Well-washed fruits are cut into halves and the bones are removed from them.

Then, so that the apricots do not darken, they are dipped into the solution for 10 minutes. citric acid. To prepare the solution, take eight teaspoons of citric acid per liter of water. It is better to use lemon juice instead of citric acid. The fruits are poured onto a wire rack and allowed to dry. Next, the fruits are laid out on the grates, skin down, but so that the fruits do not touch each other.

Dry the fruits in the hot sun. They will dry for about four days. Then dried fruits are placed on sieves in a denser layer and dried in the shade, in a ventilated place. At proper drying, the apricots will be orange.

From four kilograms ripe fruits an apricot turns out about a kilogram of dried apricots.

Dried apricots are a good vitamin and strengthening product for the nutrition of people weakened after an illness. It is very useful for normal operation main cardiac muscle. Dried apricots are added to yogurt, compotes, after crushing it into small pieces. Dried apricots are used to make fruit soups.

1. You can dry apricots without removing the pits. The drying time of such fruits in the hot sun is about a week. After that, they are brought to condition in a ventilated place in the shade.

2. Drying fruits in the oven. We release the fruits from the seeds and soak in a solution of citric acid. When the fruits dry, they are placed on a baking sheet in the oven, which is preheated to 120 degrees.

A baking sheet with apricots during drying is periodically shaken in open oven. After a while, the temperature should be reduced to 80 degrees. Drying an apricot in this way lasts only a couple of hours. To prevent the fruits from burning, the drying temperature should not be high.

An apricot, cut into halves and dried, is called dried apricots. An apricot that has been dried with the pit removed is called kaisa. Drying of apricots for apricots is widespread. Dry it whole with the bone. Apricots, for drying, are removed from the branches in a mature state. At low temperatures, drying is carried out only at the beginning and at the end of the process.

At the beginning and end of drying, depending on the juiciness of the apricot, the temperature is set at 50-65°C, and in the middle of the drying process it is brought to - 70-85°C. You can only adjust the temperature in the oven. The temperature is set with a thermometer.

For drying in the hot sun, apricots are first kept in the shade in a ventilated place for four hours, and then placed in the sun. When drying in the oven, apricots are placed on a baking sheet covered with paper and periodically mixed in a slightly heated oven.

At the end of drying, the oven is covered loosely, and the apricots are periodically turned over to remove moisture from them well. Drying ends when the apricots become elastic and do not release juice when squeezed.

Humidity after drying the fruit is not always uniform, but after a while it evens out when stored in a dry place. Take breaks of several hours to redistribute moisture in the fruit. This procedure is done at a temperature not exceeding 65 ° C.

Is dried apricots useful?

dried apricots inhabitants Central Asia considered a gift from Allah. And it rightfully deserves such a name of usefulness. Apricots contain a large number of carotene and various vitamins, are rich in iron, magnesium, pectin, fiber, but most importantly, they contain a lot of magnesium and potassium. V dried fruits the usefulness of dried apricots as a supplier of trace elements is much greater than in fresh fruits.

Dried apricots are the protector of the heart. Potassium in it strengthens the heart muscle.

Reduced food glycemic index stay longer in gastrointestinal tract, gradually breaking down and not giving a sharp jump in blood sugar. Products with a lower glycemic index provide a prolonged feeling of satiety.

Therefore, those who want to lose weight should choose foods with a lower glycemic index. The presence of vitamin "A" in dried apricots will provide you with a healthy condition of the skin, nails and hair. It is also useful for impaired vision and as a general tonic.

Since dried apricots contain a large amount of magnesium, with anemia, it is an indispensable assistant in increasing hemoglobin. Useful dried apricots for hypertensive patients, prevents blockage of blood vessels. Dried apricots are a natural fat burner.

Which dried apricots to choose?

To buy dried apricots, we choose a matte, yellowish-orange color. Dried apricot fruits of too bright color should not be purchased. It should be elastic, slightly stiff. Too soft dried apricots, which are easily smeared with fingers and have a wine flavor, should not be taken.

It is necessary to distinguish between fruits dried at home and industrially. The first pass, the drying process in the shade or in the sun, then the second - in a special chamber. But the worst thing is that chemicals are widely used in industrial processing.

To give dried apricots a marketable appearance, they are dried with sulfur dioxide. In this case, dried apricots are inedible for bugs and do not rot and mold for a long time. When treated with sulfur dioxide, sulfurous acid appears on the skin.

It also prevents the apricots from darkening when dried. From such treatment with sulfur dioxide, the mound turns bright orange, and when light grapes are dried, the raisins become amber yellow.

This type of fruit processing protects the product from insects, but is harmful to human health.

Sulfur dioxide dissolves well in water and forms sulfurous acid. Sulfurous acid has a destructive effect on the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract.

In short, Sklifosovsky! It is not recommended to cook compotes from such fruits, and eat too. Sulfur dioxide can cause allergies and nervous disorders. Which is what usually happens.

When grapes and prunes are dried, caustic soda is used. This is a forced measure. The peel of the plum is so dense that the prunes themselves are not able to dry. To do this, you need to make sure that the peel first turns into a grid of cracks. To do this, the fruits are dipped in boiling water with soda, taken out and dried in the shade. Part of the juice from prunes and grapes flows through the cracks.

Caustic soda is the most common alkali. It easily destroys metals such as aluminum and zinc.

Some residents of Central Asia believe that orange dried apricots are the height of ugliness. Besides the fact that dried apricots are fumigated with sulfur, they are also dyed with food coloring. When dried at home, the fruit inevitably darkens.

White raisins being processed food coloring. Light varieties grapes become reddish-brown after drying.

To give a presentation, prunes, dried apricots and raisins are smeared with oil - to shine.

Apricots contain a lot useful properties. Unfortunately, in fresh it will not be possible to preserve these fruits for a long time, therefore, hostesses who want to give their loved ones a piece of summer in winter prepare jams and preserves. However, few realize that the largest number useful properties are preserved in dried apricots. How to dry an apricot at home, you will learn now.

Many are sure that dried apricot is called. In fact, dried apricot has many names, depending on the size of the fruit, as well as the presence of a stone in it. Remember: a small dried apricot with a stone is apricot, a large one is a whisper. If apricot seeds are squeezed out through a hole at the stalk, then this is nothing more than kaisa, but a dried apricot divided into halves is dried apricots. It is the creation of dried apricots that we will deal with today.

Selecting an apricot suitable for quality dried apricots

quality dried apricots obtained only from apricots suitable for this purpose. For drying it is necessary to take ripe fruits. If you want to get just such a product (and for less, we are sure you do not agree), then prepare sweet large-sized, not too juicy apricots with dense pulp and an easily removed stone.

Preparing an apricot for drying

We thoroughly wash the fruits suitable for creating dried apricots. This is necessary in order to finished product did not need an additional wash, as it will reduce the amount of useful substances. We cut the apricot in half. We take out the bone.

Drying apricot

After the fruits suitable for dried apricots have been prepared, you can proceed to the main stage - drying.

Dried apricots are most useful when dried naturally.. We lay out the halves of the apricot slices up on a metal grill covered with cloth, put in a shady, well-ventilated place for 3-4 hours. After that, we put the apricot in the sun. At night, apricots must be brought into the room. Depending on the weather and the characteristics of the fruit, drying may take up to two weeks.
Some, instead of drying the apricots on a wire rack, string them on a thread, which is then stretched horizontally in a sunny, well-ventilated place. You can string apricot halves on twigs or skewers and dry them in this way.

If you do not want to spend a lot of time cooking dried apricots, you can dry the apricot in the oven. For this spread the apricot halves on a baking sheet, send to the oven, heated to 60 degrees. Periodically, the oven door should be opened to remove excess moisture. Towards the end of drying, the temperature must be lowered.

How to get a beautiful amber-colored dried apricots

In order to get beautiful dried apricots amber color before direct drying, apricot halves should be folded into a colander and held for 5 to 10 minutes over steam (too hard fruits can even be boiled for a couple of minutes). After that, lay the apricots on a clean cloth to get rid of excess moisture.

Dried apricots turn out to be beautiful if, before drying, hold the apricot in a solution prepared in the proportion of 1 teaspoon of citric acid per liter of water.

What is the quality of dried apricots

Consistency. High-quality dried apricots are elastic, pleasant to the touch; up to 10% of the original amount of water is retained in it.

Color. That the dried apricots presented before you High Quality, says its moderately yellow, orange or dull brown color. Remember: rich color is not always an indicator of quality.

Very useful, both fresh and dried. They help to avoid some cardiovascular diseases, cope with anemia and are very effective for beriberi. Meanwhile, studies have shown that vitamins, microelements and minerals are best preserved in this product when the apricot is dried, that is, it is presented in the form of dried apricots. Making dried apricots is not at all difficult and you can do it yourself, and we will tell you how to dry apricots at home and what you need for this.

So, as at home, the choice of fruits and preparation for drying.

For drying, you need to take exceptionally well-ripened and necessarily healthy apricot fruits with a well-separated stone and dense, rich pulp. Before drying, the apricots must be washed and wiped dry. Excess moisture should not be present on the fruit. After that, you need to carefully, looking through each individual fruit, remove the seeds from them, opening the apricot in half, but at the same time, without tearing it completely.

How to dry apricots at home in the oven, step by step instructions.

At home, drying apricots can take place in two ways: in the air (exclusively in dry weather) and in the oven. Meanwhile, you can combine the two methods of drying fruits.

To lay out the fruits, prepare in advance, depending on the volume of fruits, trays, baking sheets or special nets on wooden frames (depending on the drying method).

For drying in the oven, baking sheets are suitable, which at the same time need to be covered with baking paper, and the fruits should already be placed on it. In this case, slices of fruit should be up. When all the apricots are stacked, the baking sheet is placed in the oven and for one hour the fruits are dried at a temperature of 50 to 60 degrees. At the same time, your future dried apricots must be stirred periodically.

After an hour of time, the oven must be slightly opened and the apricots should be allowed to cool completely while inside the oven. After that, the procedure is repeated again, and it should be repeated until the fruit ceases to secrete juice when squeezed out of itself. As a rule, 5-6 such procedures are needed for this.

You can dry apricots in a slightly different way.

How to dry apricots, method two.

Put your fruit halves in a colander and hold it all over boiling water for about eight minutes. This is necessary so that after drying the apricot retains its beautiful original color. After that, spread the fruits on a cotton cloth and dry for fresh air until all excess moisture is gone. After that, turn on the oven, it should be warmed up to 65 degrees before inserting fruits into it. Move the fruits to a baking sheet, previously sent with baking paper and, when the temperature in the oven reaches 60-65 degrees, place it all inside for 9 hours.

After the specified time, remove the baking sheet and let the dried apricots cool completely. Put the cooled dried fruits in wooden box, and tightly close it with a lid for 3 weeks. After that, take out the dried fruits and consume them daily. Store in a well ventilated and above all dry place.

How to dry apricots outdoors.

Lay out on the street or on the balcony, always in the shade, sheets of paper, special frames or trays, and lay apricots on them in an even layer. Soak the fruits in this way for up to 4 hours, and then move them to the sun before sunset. At night, clean the apricots in the house or under a canopy. After one day in the sun, then the fruits can be dried in the shade, for example, in the attic or in the gazebo, on the loggia or on the balcony. Remember, too much direct sunlight will make apricots look ugly.

How to dry apricots in a combined way.

Using this method of drying apricots, follow these steps in order.

1. Lay the washed and peeled fruits on a baking sheet.

2. Soak the apricots in the sun for up to four hours.

3. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 60 degrees for 1 hour.

4. Open the oven, let the dried fruits cool completely.

5. Remove the baking sheet to fresh air by placing it in the shade. Dry your dried apricots here until fully prepared.

Attention! Dried apricots cooked at home will look slightly different from the store. This is due to the fact that in outlets, to give the dried fruit a marketable appearance, it is treated with sulfur dioxide.

Learn how to properly dry apricots for future use. The article will describe the exact instructions on how to dry them using an electric dryer, microwave, oven, air grill.

Dried apricots retain more useful components than in jam, jam, compotes from the same fruits. After all, under the influence high temperatures when processing sweet fruits, almost 37% of vitamins and 28% of minerals are lost.

That is why housewives try to prepare for the cold season as many tasty, fragrant, dried apricots as possible. In addition, drying is not such a costly method of harvesting fruits. Now we will learn in detail about what drying methods are, and how to properly follow the sequence in this process so that apricots are stored for as long as possible.

How to dry apricots for the winter for dried apricots at home?

Drying apricots is different. As a result, you can get apricots or dried apricots. Apricots are usually dried plain, effective method- right in the trees. More precisely, the apricot fruits are simply not picked from the trees, but are waiting for them to dry themselves. Only then is the harvest harvested.

Dried apricots - dried "artificially". Before drying, the fruits are first divided into two halves, pitted, and then only dried. Moreover, it is better not to use wild varieties of apricot for this process. Cultivars will do. Well, if these are large apricots with fleshy pulp.

Useful apricot dried apricots - how to dry?

Cooking dried apricots for the winter:

• Select clean, unaffected, slightly unripe, firm fruits
• Wash them well. Dividing into halves, remove the stones from the apricot
• Put the cooked, peeled fruits in a colander, hold them over the steam for 12-15 minutes. This is done so that dried apricots do not acquire a dark shade in the future.
• After the apricots should dry slightly in a colander
• Processed fruits, put on a tray and refrigerate for two to three hours
• Then dry dried apricots in the sun. It will take a lot of time to dry - somewhere around two to three weeks

IMPORTANT: When picking out apricot pits, don't throw them away. After all, from these bones you can get kernels, in which there are many useful substances. In addition, they are used in the confectionery industry for powdering cakes, etc.

How to dry apricots for dried fruits in the sun?

If the drying of dried fruits is done correctly, then they will be stored for a long time and supply your body with useful vitamins all winter.

How to dry dried fruits in the sun?

1. Remove spoiled, soft fruits from the total mass of apricots.
2. Be patient, remove the seeds from the remaining fruits suitable for use
3. Again, put them in portions in a colander and hold them over a pan steaming with boiling water, or dip them for a few seconds in a solution of water with lemon (for one liter of water, 2 teaspoons without a slide of citric acid)
4. Then leave them in a colander for twenty minutes, let the water escape
5. Place the wedges on the wire rack, cut side up.
6. Place in a cool, well-ventilated area for 1.5-2.5 hours
7. Then take it out into the sun. So dry all day. If it rains, bring it inside
8. They need to dry in the sun for at least six days.
9. The rest of the time, apricots are dried in a cool, ventilated place.
10. Fruits that do not stick to the fingers and are completely dry are considered desiccated.

How to dry apricots in the oven?

If you have a spacious oven, then drying apricots in it is not difficult.

For this you will need:

• Again, sort out the fruits and separate them from the seeds
• Arrange on grids or sheets covered with parchment paper
• Turn on the oven and put these sheets in there. The temperature inside the oven should be 40-55 degrees
• For some time, bring the temperature in the oven to 60-70 degrees
• Fruits must be turned over periodically so that drying takes place evenly.
• Approximate drying time in this mode is 11-12 hours
• To determine the readiness of dried apricots, press on it, if the juice does not come out of the fruit and it does not stick to your fingers, then the apricots are already dried

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the temperature in the oven does not exceed the set temperature, otherwise they may simply fry.

At what temperature should you dry apricots?

As mentioned above, at first, drying takes place at a low temperature, about 50 degrees, so that the entire surface of the fruit does not bake immediately. And then gradually bring to 65 degrees. This is the optimal mode for drying fruits, in this case, apricots.

How to dry apricots for the winter in an electric dryer?

Drying fruits in an electric dryer is a pleasure, you do not need to carry fruits back and forth in the sun, and dust will not settle on them. Also, if you do not live in your own house, but in an apartment, then a household dryer is indispensable for preparing vitamin, healthy dried apricots.

How to dry apricots in a dryer, read on:

• Start by sorting the washed fruits and separating the seeds from them
• Hold them in a solution of water with lemon so that in the future they do not darken, but are amber in color.
• Let dry on gauze
• Lay out on grids
• Place in dryer
• For the first two or three hours - set the drying mode to 50 degrees, then for eight hours - 60 degrees, then again to 50 - for two hours

IMPORTANT: If the finished dried apricots, dipped in water, tend to swell, then it is of good quality.

How to dry apricots in an air grill?

It is more convenient to dry fruits on air grills. To do this, they need to be laid out evenly on them and start the device. Best for apricot average speed, the temperature is not higher than 120 degrees, then it will take from 20 to 30 minutes to dry.

IMPORTANT: If the air temperature in the air grill is above 120 degrees, then the apricots will become dark and their beneficial properties will practically be lost.

How to dry apricots in the microwave?

Fruit drying process microwave oven not difficult, but requires attention. After all, for a short time apricot halves can simply turn into burnt croutons. Microwaves dry any fruit very quickly.

For apricots, it is better to set the power to no more than three hundred watts and the time is about two minutes. Then check the readiness of dried apricots. If the fruit is not yet dried, then increase the time by another thirty seconds and so gradually increase until the apricot is fully cooked.

How to dry apricot pits?

To be more precise, it is not the apricot seeds that need to be dried, but the kernels. To do this, free them from a strong shell. Dry in the oven at a low temperature or simply fry in a pan. Check readiness periodically.

Apricot kernels contain fatty acid, protein, carbohydrates, a lot of vitamin E. However, you cannot eat more than 40 of these nucleoli in one sitting. They have hydrocyanic acid(amygdalin). Please note that in different varieties apricot, different content of this poison. Therefore, control your appetite, do not overeat.

Now you have learned how to make dried apricots yourself different ways. More importantly: in order to save ready-made dried apricots, you need to place them in cloth bags, and then in a wooden, glass container with a lid. Just do not put them in containers made of coniferous trees, otherwise the dried apricots will absorb the aroma and become not so tasty.

Video: drying apricots in a special dryer

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

How to choose and prepare apricots for drying

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

1. Sand with sulfur. Put the fruits, cut in half, on a grid or grate (in one layer) with the pulp on top and put everything in a closed wooden box. After that, put cotton swabs treated with sulfur on the bottom of the box, set fire to them. In time, sanding takes from 2 to 6 hours. In order to process 1 kg of product at home, you need 2 g of sulfur.
2. Pour over boiling water and steam. This method much easier. First, use a colander: hold the fruit over a pot of boiling water (10-15 minutes), then place them in boiling, slightly sweetened water for 1-2 minutes. Lay out on a towel or paper towel and pat dry.
3. Hold in lemon solution. To prepare 1 liter of solution, you need 1 tsp. citric acid. Pour the chopped slices with a solution for 10 minutes, then leave to dry.

What utensils do you need

Before drying apricots at home, prepare the dishes that will be needed in the process:

• sieve or colander;
• pan;
• paper towels or paper;
• electric dryer (if you make dried fruits mechanically);
• metal grid and fabric (when drying naturally);
• knife for product preparation;
• plates.

How to make dried fruits from apricots at home

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

1. To get dried fruits light color, first put them in a colander and hold over a saucepan in which water boils, but not more than 10 minutes. Another option would be to pour halves of fruit with pre-brewed saturated syrup. Then you need to put the fruits on a dish, letting them dry.
2. Orange-golden color is achieved by sanding with sulfur. This must be done before drying the apricots at home.

Drying apricots in an electric dryer

A big plus of the dehydrator is that you can put several different types fruits, and then just lay out in turn completely ready. If you have an electric dryer, make dried fruits at home step by step:

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

Dried pitted apricot in the sun

Cooking dried apricots at home in a natural way is simple:

1. Arrange the halves on a metal grill, after covering it with a cloth, flesh side up.
2. Put it for 3-4 hours in a place where the wind gets well.
3. After that, you need to expose the grate to the sun.
4. At night, fruit must be brought into the room.
5. Drying lasts up to two weeks, it all depends on weather conditions.

How to make dried apricots at home in the oven

A large number of ripe fruits will not be lost from any housewife. Provided that she knows how to cook dried apricots at home. Tasty and healthy treat not very difficult to manufacture - you can also dry it with an oven, following certain rules:

1. Rinse and remove pits from fruits.
2. Arrange on a wire rack in a single layer so that they do not touch each other.
3. It is better to cover the grate with a cotton cloth.
4. The drying temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees.
5. The fruits dry evenly if they are periodically mixed.
6. When there is a lot of harvest, use several grates at once. Lay them out so that the distance between them is at least 7 cm.

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

How to store

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

If it is not possible to comply with such storage conditions, put dried fruits into paper or plastic bag, tray, box or jar. The main requirement is good tightness of the container or packaging, this will prevent the apricots from absorbing moisture and any odors. Proper storage dried fruits - a guarantee that the whole family will always receive a lot of useful substances that apricots have.

Video recipes: how to dry apricots for dried apricots