How to dry apples for compote? Gardeners and housewives need to adopt a few simple rules that take into account all key nuances in drying apples for a fruit drink. Among them are tips on choosing the best strains, preparation, sterilization, special methods and suitable places for drying.

Varieties for drying

What varieties of apples are suitable for drying for compote? Many experienced chefs claim that dried fruits are suitable almost any variety apples, provided that the fruits are ripe and not too sour in taste.

However, for certain purposes, such as cooking apple compotes, varieties rich in pectins and vitamins are ideal, especially vitamin P.

The vast majority of these varieties are northern small-fruited apples, such as ranetki: Dawn, Skalepovka, Dessert, Kisilevka, Tuvinka, Severyanka and others.

They usually contain about 1.5-2.5% P-compounds.

Other varieties - Vinnovka yellow, Anis Scarlet, Chinese gold and Amber- also an excellent option for harvesting dried fruits for broth.

If you don’t have any of the listed varieties on hand, try choosing apples to your taste - the best in this regard will be fruits with pronounced sweet and sour taste.

How to test apples?

How to check that the fruits are suitable for cooking for dried fruit compote? Take a closer look to the pulp of apples during drying. If you have not done blanching or other types of processing of apples against iron oxidation, then you will notice that the pieces of apples will not lose their light yellow color at all. The Right Varieties do not fade, and the dried pieces or slices of apples are soft to the touch and slightly springy.

Vitamin P has a beneficial effect on capillaries and blood vessels, and in combination with ascorbic acid regulates the redox processes of the body. It is the abundant presence of this vitamin in apples that can help in the preparation of transparent, saturated with taste and nutrients compotes.

Basic Rules

How to dry apples for compote at home? Do not forget that, depending on the capabilities of your house or plot, you can dry apples in different ways. involves the use of such comfortable rooms as.

If it is almost impossible to create favorable conditions for these purposes in the house, then only remains.

The main thing is correct select weather conditions, in which apples would not go bad, and other insects and pests.

A lot of units and devices have also been developed that significantly simplify and speed up cooking. In the article you can find a list of various drying equipment, not only or .

It also contains all the details that should be taken into account during drying so that the dried fruits do not turn out to be too brittle or vice versa, viscous and sticky.

Even if your choice fell on a variety of apples ideal for compote, dried fruits risk losing 2/3 of all vitamins.

To prevent this from happening, let the pieces brew in warm boiled water, but in no case do not scald them with boiling water.

During the night, the fruit will be saturated with water, slightly swollen, and will be ready to prepare compote.

How to dry apples special dryer you can learn from this video:

Step-by-step instruction

How to dry apples for compote for the winter? The first step in the preparation of dried fruits is. It includes not only best way to cut fruits, but also various secrets to preserve the color and longevity of the product.

As for peeling apples, most recipes advise do not cut the skin and leave by the apple core with bones. They will not spoil the taste of your compote in the slightest, but will only add useful substances. The peel is known to be quite rich in vitamin C, minerals (iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, etc.), as well as pectins.

It is not so important where and on what you dry apples - on a baking sheet in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a thread, right in the kitchen.

Important choose the right shape, thanks to which all the pieces will adhere firmly to the selected surface, dry evenly and quickly.

So, if you decide to cook dried fruits for compote on a string, hanging it on an open loggia, it is better to cut medium-sized fruits into identical slices. Focus on a thickness of 0.5-2 cm.

Before drying, you can use saline solution. This step is highly recommended if you want protect chopped fruits from fruit flies and other insects. In addition, dried fruits processed in this way will be stored much longer.

Drying apples in the oven for the winter is not difficult. The process itself is easy. But it will take a lot of time to dry the apple slices. Dried apples are a useful dried fruit that we often use in winter to make compotes, uzvar, jelly, all kinds of desserts and other dishes. During the drying process, all useful vitamins are preserved in apple slices for a long time. This is the most useful way to harvest apples for the winter. It is best to use sweet and sour varieties of apples for drying, which have dense pulp and do not crumble during cutting. From 1 kg of apples, approximately 150-180 gr. drying.

To prepare dried apples in the oven for the winter, you will need such ingredients.

First of all, high-quality fruits should be washed well in running cold water. Lay out on a towel and dry well.

There is a special knife for removing the core from apples. It is very convenient to use it. Especially if the apples are small. Cut large fruits in half and cut out the core.

Cut the prepared apples into thin rings. The maximum thickness is 4 mm. The wider the slice, the longer it takes to dry.

Apple pulp tends to darken in the air. To prevent this from happening, prepare a saline solution. Dissolve a spoonful of salt in a liter of water. Pour the chopped circles with a solution and leave for 10-15 minutes.

Throw on a sieve or colander, let the water drain. Place on paper towels and pat dry well.

Line a baking sheet with parchment. Arrange apples in one layer. Set the oven to the lowest temperature. I have an ordinary gas stove and the minimum temperature is 90-100 degrees. Dried apples are prepared in the oven for the winter for 3-5 hours. Leave the oven door slightly ajar. Check in periodically and lightly stir or shake the pan.

Dried apples are ready. The slices should be brown or beige and soft to the touch.

Store dried apple slices in a glass or plastic container. Cover with baking paper or a cotton cloth to let the dried fruit breathe.

In winter, when we need fruits and vegetables to maintain immunity and avoid vitamin deficiency, the question arises of how to store them. The best option is to store stocks for the winter in a dried form. When they do not lose their nutritional value, but on the contrary, they retain vitamins and minerals. An apple is 90 percent water. When dried, the water content is reduced to 15 percent. That is, during drying, water evaporates, and all other useful substances remain. Therefore, dried apples are not only healthy, but also easy to store and can be used to make many delicious dishes.

To dry apples at home, you do not need to have special knowledge or sophisticated technical equipment. This is also a plus for drying apples. Everything you need for drying apples - oven.

Apples should be taken on the basis that from 10 kilograms of fresh apples, approximately 1.1 kilograms of dried ones are obtained.

For drying, sweet-sour and sour varieties of apples, such as Antonovka, are usually taken, since the best dried fruits come out of them. Apples need to be sorted out - rotten, wormy or spoiled must be removed, the rest must be washed. You need to wash apples well, because they are usually treated with special chemicals. To avoid poisoning them, apples must be thoroughly washed.

After all the apples are washed, they need to be peeled and cut. You can peel the skin, then the drying process will go much faster, since the water will evaporate better. Apples must be cleaned of seeds and cores. You can cut them either into slices or circles, but the thickness of each slice should not exceed 1 cm. Apples should be cut with a sharp stainless steel knife, because apples quickly oxidize when interacting with iron. At drying apples in the oven, you can not peel them from the skin and cores, in which case you will save more valuable substances, but visually the first option looks better.

So that the sliced ​​apples do not darken (and they darken quickly due to oxidation), they need to be blanched. Blanch apples as follows: in hot water that is not brought to a boil (which is important), you need to lower the apple slices for just a few seconds. You can also soak them in a 1.5% saline solution for 2-3 minutes. At the same time, apples lose some of the acids and sugars, but these losses are insignificant.

Next, you need to put the apple slices on a baking sheet. It is recommended not to use iron trays, but it is best to take a sieve or a grate, or string apples on a wire or thread. Spread apples in an even layer so that they cover the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe baking sheet.

Process drying apples in the oven consists of three phases:

Phase 1 takes place at a temperature of 50 ° C, when the apples are dried.
Phase 2 - the temperature must be raised to 70 ° C so that the bulk of the water evaporates.
3rd phase, final, at a temperature of 80 °C - sterilization.

Drying apples in the oven takes 5-6 hours.

It is important not to raise the temperature abruptly, if at the very beginning you make the temperature too high, the apples will be covered with a crust and the water from them will not be able to evaporate. It is not necessary to close the door tightly at the beginning of the drying process, since water evaporates in large quantities and it would be good to ventilate the oven so that the apples do not burn. Close the door tightly only at the end of drying, when the water has already evaporated.

Apples can also

Apples are a very healthy and tasty product. Perhaps this is the most common fruit that can always be found in stores, regardless of the time of year. There are many varieties and all of them are rich in vitamins and minerals, which are very useful for the human body.

Apples are consumed not only fresh, they are canned, boiled and dried in the sun or in an air grill. The latter method is the most popular, so let's find out how to properly dry apples in various ways.

Fruit preparation

Drying apples is one of the most economical ways to harvest fruit for the winter. The main role here is played by the fact that the fruits processed in this way retain all their useful properties for a long time. In the future, it will be possible to cook compotes, brew teas, make stuffing for pies and eat just like that.

Compliance with technology is the main condition for the preservation of vitamins and trace elements. Therefore, knowledge of how to dry apples in an oven, air grill or other kitchen appliance is useful to every housewife. Where to start?

First, fruits must be sorted by size. It should be noted that any variety is suitable for drying. The sweetest are slices of white filling. This is one of the early varieties, it is very tasty and juicy.

Secondly, they are thoroughly washed and left to dry in the air. For the manufacture of drying, fallen fruits are mainly used. When washing, cut out damaged areas, you can cut out the core with seeds and remove the peel.

The next step is optional, but if you want the drying to retain whiteness and not turn yellow, then do this:

• Prepare a saline solution, for 1 liter of water 1 tsp. table salt;
• Dip the apples into the resulting liquid for 2-3 minutes;
• Take them out and, without wiping, leave to air dry.

Processed fruits are cut into slices and laid out on a grid or baking sheet in one layer.

Drying in the sun

If time and weather allow, then the best option is to dry the apples naturally. In a private house, roofs and attics are used for this. Sliced ​​\u200b\u200band fruits processed in a saline solution are laid out on a baking sheet or strung on a thread.

Before putting the fruit to dry, they should be covered with gauze to prevent flies and other insects from climbing on them. On a plank, you can lay the slices in 2 layers as much as possible, it is better to string them on a thread with a small gap. After that, the container is exposed to the sun or apple garlands are hung in a dry and warm room.

How are apples dried in the sun? In order for them to dry evenly, they must be turned over daily from one side to the other. The sun must constantly fall on the slices, so the container will have to be moved several times during the day.

It is undesirable to dry fruits on a cloudy day, the process is considered correct only when exposed to direct rays. Not suitable for this activity and a rainy day.

When drying indoors, it will be necessary to ensure that it is regularly ventilated, the air is not humid. Dampness is not needed in this case. It is recommended to periodically move the apples along the rope so that they dry evenly and do not stick together.

How long do apples dry naturally? This process is lengthy and depends on the weather. It usually takes at least 10 days. If the dryer is well dried on both sides, it is elastic, does not break or stick to each other, then it can be removed.

When it is not possible to dry fruits in the sun or attic, you can use accelerated methods - dry fruits in the oven, air grill, electric dryer or microwave.

Fast drying methods

Drying apples naturally is not always possible. In this case, folk ingenuity and household appliances come to the rescue.

Oven

The easiest thing is to spread the slices on a baking sheet and put it on warm batteries, turning the dried slices daily. The humidity in the room where the apples dry should be low. How long will the fruit dry? On average, a week is enough.

If you live in the city, then knowing how to dry apples in the oven will come in handy. It will take 7-8 hours to prepare one batch of drying. Line the baking sheet with foil or parchment paper before placing the sliced ​​fruit on the baking sheet.

To begin with, the temperature should be low, about 45 degrees. After 2 hours, increase this figure to 65 degrees, and 30 minutes before the end of drying, set the temperature control to 50.

Remember, during the drying process, fruits release moisture, so periodically you will need to open the oven to release steam, and turn the slices every hour to the other side. At the end of the process, remove the dryer and lay it on a clean, dry towel - let it cool.

Microwave

Knowing how to dry apples in the microwave, you can process a bucket of fruit in a few hours. This is the fastest way, but it is important not to overdry the fruits. Spread the prepared slices on a plate in one layer.

Power should not exceed 300 kW. Turn on the oven for 2 minutes, after turning off the timer, immediately remove the plate and check the readiness of the product. Dry if necessary. After preparing the first portion, put the second and, having set the right time, turn on the microwave.

air grill

If desired, you can dry the apples in the air grill. To do this, cover the nets in the set with parchment paper and, placing the prepared fruits on top, place them one above the other. How are apples dried in an air grill? Set the temperature to 100-120 degrees, the blowing speed should be low. With such modes, you will spend about an hour on one bookmark.

It should be remembered that the top of the fruit will dry faster than the bottom. Therefore, periodically it will be necessary to turn off the device and change the grids in places. At the same time, the slices are turned over.

Electric dryer

Apple drying can be done not only in an air grill, but also in an electric dryer. To do this, the prepared fruits are laid out on the nets of the unit in one layer and placed inside the device. At a temperature of 60 degrees, it will take about 8 hours to cook 1 serving.

How else to dry apples in an electric dryer? To improve the taste, chopped fruits can be left to soak in sugar syrup for a day, and then dried. The amount of sugar is arbitrary. It is added to boiling water and mixed thoroughly.

The chopped fruits are poured with the cooled syrup so that the water covers them completely, and left in a cool place. The next day, the slices are thrown into a colander and the syrup is allowed to drain, after which they are laid out on a grid.

How to store the finished product?

How long is the finished drying stored? It depends on the correct preparation. Well-dried fruits can retain useful elements for years. They are packed in cardboard boxes, glass or plastic containers, in cloth bags.

To preserve the harvest of apples for the winter, various home methods are used to stock up on apples for the future, while maintaining the beneficial properties of fruits. The most convenient way to harvest apples is drying. How to choose and dry apples correctly so that when dried, the fruits retain their nutritional value and do not lose their useful substances is a question that arises among housewives, as a rule, in the fall, during the period of apple picking.

Drying apples is an economical, practical and convenient way to store fruits for a long time at home in winter. The safety of dried apples depends on how to properly dry the apples. How long should apples be dried outdoors under the sun, how to make dried fruits in the oven, microwave, how to dry apples in an electric dryer, at what temperature, you will learn in detail from the material below.

Dried apple recipes will help you eat tasty and healthy during Lent, stay on a weight loss diet, and follow the principles of proper healthy eating.

Advice from the Miracle Chef. The mass (weight) of fresh apples after drying decreases by about 7 times. The mass of dried apples per 1 kg of fresh fruit weight is 150 grams in the finished dried form. Vitamins, useful substances contained in dried fruits are stored for 10 years, provided that the drying is properly stored.

How to dry apples for the winter at home

In a harvest year, up to 10 bags of fresh apples can be harvested from one apple tree. What to do when cooked in the oven, canned jars are rolled up, fragrant homemade is cooked. It is boiled in slices, and tender, baby, juicy fruits in jars are harvested for the winter, twisted, tired of eating with apples. But there are still many unpicked fruits hanging on the trees, what to do with the apples left in the garden?

In such a situation, the old way of harvesting apples for long-term storage will help out - drying them at home. Dried apples, or they are also called dried fruits, have been harvested at home for the future for a long time.

If you dry the apples, then in winter you won’t have to buy a compote mixture in a store or on the market in order to cook delicious, hand-made dishes without any problems, to cook healthy dishes with dried fruits.

Drying has a lot of advantages over other methods of harvesting for the winter:

1. Dried fruits take up little space, which is very important in a city apartment.
2. Dried fruits are good for human health. When dried, apples retain most of the nutrients and vitamins. The benefits of dried fruits remain due to the use of low-temperature food processing methods.
3. Drying apples under the power of any housewife is a simple way that does not require special knowledge and skills. It is enough to choose the right variety, cut the apples into slices and put in the sun.
4. Dried apples are very long and can be easily stored at home.
5. This is a very practical preparation, for its preparation there is no need to use sugar,.

We can talk about the advantages of drying, confirming its benefits, for a long time. But our task is to learn how to choose and dry apples correctly. Make drying so as not to lose the color of dried apples, preserve the benefits of dried fruits, store dried apples for a long time, until stocks for the winter run out.

Choosing a variety of apples for drying

• in order to minimize waste and increase the amount of ready-made dried fruits, we choose medium-fruited and large varieties;
• both summer and winter, autumn varieties dry well: Pepin, Antonovka, Aport, Slavyanka, Anis;
• the best apples for drying by experienced gardeners are fruits with a thin skin and a small seed box;
• sour apples and sour-sweet taste have the brightest taste qualities after drying;
• when choosing sweet apples for drying, it is worth considering that after drying they are devoid of a pronounced taste, and sweet and sour varieties, sour, will be the best choice;
• carrion can be dried if the apples are of high quality, whole and properly prepared.

How to prepare apples for drying

Before drying, apples must be prepared: rinse, cut off spots from the skin, remove wormholes, bruised spots and cut out the seed box. It depends on the correct preparation how quickly the apples dry, how qualitatively and how tasty the apples will be.

To prepare apples for drying, you will need:

• a sharp knife and a device with which a seed box is removed from a whole apple, but if there is none, then you can remove the seeds from apples with a knife;
• brine is necessary if apples are dried in the sun, on the street, salt repels insects and primarily protects the crop from flies;
• boiling water - so that the apples do not oxidize during drying in the oven, microwave, electric dryer, do not darken and retain their color, they should be blanched.

To avoid oxidation and browning, process apples in portions - not all at once, following the sequence:

1. We wash each apple before drying, wipe it with a dry towel. You can not peel the peel from homemade garden apples. Store-bought fruit should be peeled.
2. We remove the core in the old way of our ancestors: we cut the fruit into quarters, cut out a box with seeds and cut the edible parts of the fruit into slices. The modern way to remove the core is with the help of a special device in the form of a metal tube with sharp edges. If apples are dried for compote, then the core can be left. You can try to cut the core from a whole apple without cutting the fruit, then you can cut the fruit into circles for drying.
3. Cut apples into slices or circles. The thickness in the cutting of each piece should be no more than 5 mm.
4. Processing with boiling water - blanching, so that the apples retain their color during the drying process, do not darken, remain light: we lower the prepared slices for a few seconds in hot water (not boiling water), it is important not to overcook the fruit, otherwise they will cook.
5. Saline treatment is a mandatory procedure before drying in the open air: we dip chopped apples into a solution of table salt, to prepare a solution for 10 liters of water, 100 grams of salt will be required; keep the apples for 5 minutes in the solution.

Salt solution protects dried apples from insects: moths, flies. Salt acts on drying as a preservative, increasing the shelf life of apples, and has a brightening effect on dry fruits. Apples treated with saline before drying look light and appetizing, they can be eaten like chips without fear for your health and household members.

After preparation, the next stage is drying apples, we choose the most suitable method.

Drying apples in the sun

How to dry apples in the sun? This is an outdoor drying process. Apples are dried without an oven in a natural way: on the balcony, in a sunny place in the country, near a private house in a ventilated part on the street. For drying in the sun, certain conditions are necessary, which can be attributed to the disadvantages of using this method at home:

• hot sunny days;
• high air temperature so that the apples quickly wither, without having time to rot;
• sunny weather with little wind;
• sufficient area to accommodate a large number of fruits, suspended on threads, laid out on baking sheets.

In the sun, as a rule, summer varieties of apples are dried. It will not work to dry autumn and winter apples in the open air in autumn, climatic conditions will not allow.

But a significant plus, a weight advantage in favor of drying in the sun is the processing of a large amount of crop at a time.

In the hot sun, the process of complete drying of fruits takes 5 days. In a shady place, it will take more time - 8-10 days

Two methods can be applied:

1. Arrange the apples prepared and cut into thin slices on a baking sheet in one layer and set the baking sheets in the sun. Every day, fruits need to be turned over.
2. How to, string apple slices on threads and hang in the sunniest place or shaded, but well ventilated.

At night, if possible, the fruit preparation should be removed into the house to avoid rain and the absorption of excess moisture by fresh fruits.

How to dry apples over a gas stove

For those who are deprived of the opportunity due to weather conditions to dry fruits in the open air, there are artificial methods indoors - this is drying in the oven, microwave, in an electric dryer, microwave over the stove, stove.

Fruit, strung on wooden sticks or threads, is hung over a gas stove and all burners are turned on on the stove. Apples are unlikely to dry quickly over an electric stove. Over gas burners without an oven, drying of apples occurs quickly, 4 hours are enough for the slices to dry out and be well stored in winter.

Dried apples in the oven on a baking sheet

On the stove, in the oven, harvesting dried apples in the oven for the winter among housewives is considered the most affordable. How to dry apples in the oven? Pieces should be laid out on grids or baking sheets covered with baking paper in one layer.

Note!

The drying process in the oven is divided into three stages:

1. The first stage - we set the temperature to 50 ° C, open the door in the oven, dry the apples for 60 minutes.
2. The second stage - we increase the temperature of the oven to 70 ° C so that moisture evaporates from the apples.
3. The third stage is the final one. At the final stage of drying at a temperature of 80 ° C, the dried apples are sterilized. During the final stage, you can close the oven door - by that time, most of the water has already evaporated from the apples.

The final drying of apple slices in the oven takes 7 hours. We make sure that the slices do not burn, do not change the light color to brown, for this we mix the pieces every hour.

How to dry apples in an electric dryer

Gardeners rated the electric dryer as the best device for drying apples for compote, convenient fruit processing, and harvesting for the winter. A dryer is an indispensable thing in the household for those who make large volumes of homemade preparations.

The electric dryer does not require constant presence. How to dry apples in an electric dryer? This is the easiest way to dry. Slices, cut into a thickness of 5-7 mm, spread evenly over drying, set the temperature on the device recommended in the instructions, and wait for the dried fruits to be ready. The dryer, depending on the model, dries the slices from 2 to 6 hours.

Drying apples in the microwave

The advantage of the microwave oven is the quick drying of fruits, the disadvantage is the limited possibilities when processing a large crop of apples. But, if you need to dry a small amount of fruit, the microwave is just right. How to dry apples in the microwave?

1. We lay out the prepared pieces of fruit on a plate covered with a cloth napkin in one row. From above we cover the slices with a second cloth napkin.
2. We set the power in the microwave to 200-300 watts and dry the slices for 4-5 minutes.

Find out the quick recipe: whole baked apples.

How to know that dried fruits are ready

Readiness is easy to determine.

1. If the slices after drying have significantly decreased in size.
2. If the dried apples do not crumble when pressed, bend well and do not secrete juice, then the product is ready for use.
3. The slices break when bent - the apples are overdried.
4. The pieces are sticky and wet - not dried out.

The color of dried apples depends on the chosen drying method, the type of fruit used - summer, winter or autumn. The color obtained in the finished product may be bright, pale or have a reddish tint.

Storage of dried apples

In order for dried apples harvested for the winter to retain vitamins and nutrients throughout the entire storage period at home, they must be properly packaged.

It is known that dried fruits are able to absorb excess moisture, extraneous odors, while becoming moldy. Moths and bugs are the result of improper storage of dried fruits.

1. Properly store the workpiece should be in cotton bags, paper bags, cardboard boxes.
2. The storage place in the apartment should be dark, cool, but not damp, and well ventilated.
3. To avoid the appearance of mold and, as a result, moths in dried apples, the workpiece cannot be stored in plastic bags and plastic containers.

Calories per 100 grams

The calorie content of dried apples per 100 grams without sugar is 220 calories. Dry fruits are about 4-5 times more nutritious than fresh ones. The product turns out to be high-calorie and nutritious, when using it, you should count calories, do not abuse the amount of dried fruits eaten per day.

What can be cooked from dried apples: dishes

The most famous dried dishes are compote, pie, charlotte, pies, jam and fillings for pies. Dried apples are added to give an apple flavor when brewed, used for infusion, dry apple slices are eaten like chips.

We offer to cook a delicious pie from dried apples prepared for the winter. Charlotte turns out no less tasty than fresh.

You will need:

• drying from apples - 1.5 cups;
• wheat flour - 1.5 cups;
• chicken eggs - 4 pcs.;
• sugar - half a glass;
• butter - 100 grams;
• vanilla sugar - 1 sachet;
• baking powder for baking - 1 tsp;
• cinnamon;
• salt.

Dried Apple Charlotte Recipe:

1. Soak apples in boiled water for several hours (you can overnight).
2. Boil the pieces until soft, the remaining broth can be drunk or used when cooking compote,.
3. Separate the yolks from the whites. Grind the yolks with sugar, add the whites.
4. Put soft butter to the yolks and beat the mixture.
5. Pour the sifted flour, baking powder, stir so that there are no lumps in the dough.
6. Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff.
7. We combine both masses together with dried fruits.
8. We spread the dough for charlotte in a form greased with oil.
9. We bake the cake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 180 ° C for 50 minutes.

We treat the household with a delicious dried apple pie with a cup.

Friends, we hope you liked the simple ways to harvest dry fruits for the winter. Using our advice, you will dry apples deliciously, store the workpiece correctly and start stocking up on useful drying every year.