Drying apples is one of the easiest ways of harvesting these healthy fruits for the winter, from which surprisingly tasty compotes are obtained. In addition, these apples almost completely retain the vitamins and beneficial trace elements for several years. But only under the condition that they are dried correctly and in compliance with all technological requirements.
In the old days, apples were dried exclusively in the open air. Ensuring that the fruit throughout the day were in the sun. At night, they were cleaned in a cool and dry room. Such a drying process takes at least a week and is the most optimal. However, not every housewife living in the city can afford such luxury. Yes, and environmental conditions are not at all conducive to getting a product that is clean and safe in all respects. Therefore, today, apples are usually dried indoors, using for this purpose all sorts of available tools, from a central heating battery to a stove and a microwave oven.
Rules for drying apples
For drying ripe ripe sweet and sour fruit with dense flesh, without rot and wormholes. Pre-apples must be washed in running water and cut into slices or circles, without removing the core. It should be borne in mind that when exposed to air, the pulp of these fruits, which contain a lot of iron, oxidizes and darkens. To avoid this, sliced apples before drying for a few minutes immersed in lightly salted water. The easiest way to dry is to string fruit slices on a string and hang them in a dry, warm room, for example, in the kitchen. In this case, the apples are dried naturally, are quite soft and tasty. However, the process of drying them takes at least 10-12 days. It can be accelerated if the apples are dried in small batches by placing them on wooden planks that are placed on central heating radiators. In the process of drying the apples need to be turned over periodically on the plates and make sure that the humidity level in the room is low enough.
If the apple harvest is large enough, and several tens of kilograms are selected for drying, then in such a situation it is best to use the stove. To do this, cut the apples to put on a baking sheet, which is covered with parchment or foil, and send in the oven for 7-8 hours. It is necessary to start drying at a temperature not higher than 45-50 degrees, otherwise the fruit will shrink instantly, and a dense crust will form on their surface. After about 1, 5-2 hours the temperature should be increased to 60-65 degrees. At the same time, it is necessary to periodically open the oven so that excess moisture leaves it. About half an hour before the end of the drying, the temperature should again be lowered to 44-50 degrees, after which the apples should be laid out on a towel and left to cool for several hours. Microwave helps speed up the process of drying apples. To do this, cut fruits should be laid on a plate in a single layer and sent to the microwave for 2 minutes, setting the power at 250-300 W. When the timer works, the fruit must be removed from the microwave and check their status. For some varieties of apples this time will be quite enough, while other fruits will have to be dried. When the optimal time is calculated experimentally, you can proceed to the serial harvesting of dry apples. With a certain skill, the entire crop can be processed in just a few hours.
