Minus H2O: dried apricots in accordance with all the rules

Dried fruits are not only healthy, but also very tasty. Apricots can be dried in several ways: there are both traditional and modern recipes. The easiest way is to peel the fruits, halved, and put them to dry in an electric dryer or oven. Get dried apricots. Gourmets will also like a delicacy called ashtak-pashtak, which is a dried whole apricot with a kernel nucleus inside. We will tell you all the wisdom of preparing dried fruits from sunny fruits!

How to dry apricots?

Few people know that apricots are one of the best cleansers for the body. Fruits contain a lot of fiber and antioxidants. With regular use, the body becomes younger, pressure normalizes, and immunity increases. Dried apricot retains 90% of nutrients: vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C, silicon, cobalt and many others.

But to preserve the benefits, the fruits must be dried correctly. For long-term storage, only dry apricots are suitable. At the same time, they should not be overdried, tasty, fleshy.

The main secrets of delicious and healthy dried fruits from apricots:

• Grade selection. For drying on dried apricots, only certain varieties are suitable. It is optimal to choose the Central Asian subspecies: Crimean Amur, Harostar, Pleasure (Magic), Isfarak, Tabarza, Kolkhoz, Krasnoshchek, Karlson, Pineapple. Fruits should be sweet, with easily removable stone, firm, fleshy.
• The degree of maturity. Apricots need to take mid-season. It is important that they are not too juicy, but not green. The ripened fruits on drying resemble dried paper, and the ripened ones are bitter.
• Sorting. For dried fruits, whole, intact fruits must be selected. They must be the same size. Apricots of different diameters are dried unevenly - when large ones reach their readiness, small ones are already dried out and become too hard.
• Training. Before drying, the fruits are washed and dipped in acidic water so as not to darken. Preparing the solution is simple - you need to add 1 tsp for every 1 liter of water. citric acid.

Dried apricots are halves of a fruit without a stone. And other types of dried fruits are made from apricots: apricot - whole fruit with a seed, kaisu - a whole fruit, hollow inside, sear - especially large whole apricot without a seed and ashtak - a whole apricot with a kernel from the inside.

3 ways to dry apricots

Drying is one of the oldest methods of preserving fruits, berries, mushrooms and many other gifts of nature for the winter. Moisture is removed from apricots, but at the same time beneficial substances, aroma and taste are preserved. To this end, prepared fruits are exposed to heat and wind.

Previously, dried apricots were made simply in the open. Apricots were laid out on newspapers and covered with gauze from flies. They dried out under the sun (this took about 1.5–2 weeks), and then the family enjoyed their dried fruits all winter.

Today the process of production of dried apricots is established. It will take no more than a few days, or even hours, to make it. It is only necessary to choose a suitable drying method. At home, it is popular to dry apricots in an electric dryer or dehydrator. But in the absence of special equipment, dried apricots can be made in an ordinary oven.

In the electric dryer

In the dryer, apricots retain the maximum of their aroma and taste. Most often, the device is made in the form of a cylinder. The base is a stand with a heating element and a fan for blowing.Lattice trays for fruits and vegetables line up on top of the tiers. The smaller the object, the faster it dries. For example, greens will be ready in 2 hours. Apricots will need more time - from 14 to 40 hours, depending on the size of the fruit and the power of the device.

How to dry them in an electric dryer?

1. Divide the washed fruits into halves and remove the seeds.
2. Dip in citric acid solution to maintain color.
3. Turn on the dryer, set the temperature to 55 degrees.
4. While the appliance is warming up, place the halves of the apricots in the trays.
5. Turn each half of the pulp out and make sure that they do not touch in the tray.
6. After 14 hours, check the readiness of dried apricots. Rub the cooled dried fruit between your fingers. He should not drive and leave marks.

100 g of dried apricots contains 12 times more calories than 100 g of fresh fruits.

In the dehydrator

The dehydrator has the same operating principle and is an improved version of the electric dryer. Available in the form of a cube and with drawers, trays. Drying in a dehydrator is carried out thanks to infrared radiation. The device itself is able to set the optimum temperature and is equipped with humidity sensors.

Apricots in a dehydrator are dried as follows:

1. Pure, prepared, seedless fruits are laid out in a single layer in boxes.
2. Turn on the dehydrator and select the "for fruit" mode.
3. After 10-14 hours, the dried fruits will be ready.

How many dried apricots do you get? About 10 kg of dried fruits can be obtained from 10 kg of fresh apricots.

In the oven

Oven gas stove is not suitable for drying apricots. The fact is that at the lowest level of heating, it maintains a temperature of 150 degrees. And for the preparation of dried fruits, it should not exceed 70 degrees. But there is one trick that will help implement the plan.

So, we dry apricots on dried apricots in the oven:

1. Rid the seeds and hold them in an acidic solution.
2. Put the halves on a paper towel to drain the water.
3. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper at this time.
4. Put the pieces on a baking sheet at some distance from each other.
5. Turn on the oven. Choose the lowest temperature.
6. Set the baking sheet to the very top and leave the door open.
7. After 2 hours, turn over the dried fruit and let it dry for another 1.5 hours.
8. Check the dried apricots for readiness. If necessary, dry it for another one and a half hours.

Do not rush to throw apricot kernels. The kernels hidden inside are delicious and resemble almonds. To crack a nut, you need to put it on the edge and hit something hard. And if there is a nutcracker, then you can use it.

Apricot Dried Fruit Recipes

As already mentioned at the beginning of the article, there are not only different ways of drying apricots, but also recipes with different ways of preparing fruits. We present to your attention the best of them:

• Dried apricots "as in a store." So that the dried fruits turn out to be juicy and sweet, the seed must be squeezed out through the hole made, leaving the fruits whole, and pre-boil the apricots in sugar syrup. Take a bamboo stick and push on the bone from the side opposite the stem (tail). Peeled fruits in this way (300 g) are placed in a syrup of 100 ml of water and 100 ml of sugar. Add 4 slices of lemon. Drain the apricots over medium heat for 2-3 minutes and leave in the cooling syrup for another 1 hour. Then catch the slices and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Dry in an open oven for 3 hours or 14-22 hours in a dryer.
• Dried apricots. Apricots dried together with a stone are the easiest to cook. It is enough to wash them and place them in the oven on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. The fire is turned on to a minimum, the door is left open. Every 3 hours, apricots turn over. A total of 12-17 hours of dried apricots, and in an electric dryer - 40 hours or more. Whole fruits are especially good in compotes.
• Ashtak. Many eat dried fruits instead of sweets. Ashtak is a wonderful substitute for harmful sweets.To prepare it, you need to squeeze the seeds from the apricots, without violating the integrity, and boil the fruits for 2-3 minutes in sugar syrup. At this time, the apricot kernels should be chopped and the nucleoli removed. Insert the kernels inside the caramelized apricots. Dry them at a temperature of 60 degrees.

Dry apricots for the winter for everyone. At home, this is best done in a dryer or dehydrator. Devices help to maintain maximum taste, smell and benefit. Try different recipes and drying methods - each of them will certainly delight you!