How to Dry Apricots at Home

Dried apricots is considered to be a favorite delicacy of most people. Dried apricots retain useful properties even after heat treatment. Dried fruits are added to cereals, used as snacks for tea, and desserts are decorated with them. The product is especially useful for diabetics and weight watchers. Due to the large number of beneficial enzymes, the treat normalizes glucose levels and improves digestion. To dry apricots, you must have basic knowledge.

Preparing apricots for drying

1. Choose cultivated apricot varieties. Wild subspecies (in common people - “wild”) are not suitable for such manipulations. Select sweet, non-watery, ripe, dense fruits. Because during processing with boiling water, apricot will lose most of the liquid. Make sure that the fruits are of late variety.
2. Before drying, sort apricots, get rid of rotten, damaged copies. Remove the seeds, cut the fruit in half, and also do not forget to exclude wormy fruits. This is done so that the larvae do not regenerate during the drying process. It is not recommended to rinse the halved fruit.
3. To achieve a lighter shade during drying, you need to send the fruits in a colander and hold the fruits over the steam for a quarter of an hour. You can do otherwise by welding syrup from 200 gr. sugar and 300 ml. water. Dip the slices in the cooked mass for several minutes. Remove, place on a flat container, leave until the sweet pasta is completely drained.

Method number 1. Drying with household appliances

1. Electric dryer. First read the instructions for the device, select a more suitable function. Then you should adhere to the basic rules for drying apricots. Fold the prepared fruit into trays, keeping a small distance, this move will prevent sticking. Next, set the temperature to 45 degrees and the duration of the heat treatment for 2 hours. After this period, raise the temperature to 60 degrees, keep the apricots 5.5 hours. Then again reduce the power to 45 degrees, after another 2 hours. The total duration of the procedure is about 10 hours.
2. Oven. If there is no special electric dryer, use a conventional oven. Please note that fruit needs constant supervision. Set the oven to 65 degrees. Place the fruits on a baking sheet, send to the oven. The process of languishing will be about 9 hours. Do not forget to periodically open the oven door to remove excess moisture. Also make sure that the apricots do not dry out.
3. Dehydrator This method is the fastest and best. To begin, lay out the apricots with a slice to the grate. Next, set the temperature to 60 - 65 degrees, set the timer for 30 minutes. With this treatment, the fruits will be semi-fleshy, semi-dry. The type of dried fruit depends on the taste, if you prefer a more dried composition, extend the heat treatment to 45 minutes.

Method number 2. Drying in the sun

1. The method is considered more natural, since the fruits are dried in the natural environment under the sun. To do this, lay out the stoned fruit with the slices up.
2. Put cotton material on wooden pallets, send apricots to it in a free, not pressed against each other state.
3. First, the apricots tumble in the shade for about 4 hours. Then they are laid out under the scorching ultraviolet rays until completely dry. After sunset, remove the fruits into the house, cover with gauze cloth.This is done so that insects do not damage the composition.
4. Be patient, because drying in this way will take about 10 days. When storing fruits between drying days, put the legs of pallets in cups with water, then the ants will not get to the apricots.
5. There is another way - combined. Arrange the prepared fruits in the sun, wait about 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 65 degrees, then send the apricots into it for 1 hour. Remove the fruits, place in the shade for final drying.

We determine the readiness of dried apricots

The degree of readiness of dried apricots is determined by several indicators.

1. Feel the dried fruit. Properly carried out drying makes dried apricots shriveled, but elastic. The composition should be slightly heavier than the dried specimens, pleasant to the touch due to the content of a small amount of water.
2. If you lower the cooked dried fruit in boiling water, it will swell. In such apricots, the maximum supply of vitamins and minerals is preserved.
3. In the preparation of this product without the use of chemicals, the color is pale yellow, brownish, moderately orange. A supersaturated hue indicates that the fruit is processed with an unnatural composition.

How to store dried apricots

1. Cotton bag. This method is more common than everyone else. Put the dried fruit in a bag, hang it on a clove in a dark room with minimal humidity.
2. Plastic bag. The method is more modern and practical. After drying, dried apricots are placed in polyethylene, put in a cool place, periodically open the bag and ventilate the contents.
3. Cardboard container. The method of storage in this way helps unevenly dried fruit to get ready. It is enough to line the box with album sheets, then put the apricots in it (one next).

It is easy to dry apricots at home, if you follow practical recommendations. Consider popular methods using an oven, an electric dryer, a dehydrator. Try the procedure by laying out the fruits in direct sunlight. Combine several technologies with each other, look for the best option. Store dried apricots in plastic bags, cardboard containers, or cotton bags.

Video: how to make dried apricots at home