Instructions on: How to Dry Fruit

[Guest guest]

Now we can all dry our fruit.

Hope you find this useful.

DM

 

How to Dry Fruit

 

For apricots, peaches, apples, berries and more, seven easy steps from selection

to storage

 

1. Select the Fruit. Use only blemish-free fruits that are fully ripe but not

overly ripe.

 

2. Prepare the Fruit; Wash, pit and slice the fruit. The smaller the pieces, the

quicker they will dry. But keep all pieces uniform in size so they¢ll dry at the

same time.

 

3. Pretreating; To preserve the color of the fruit, blanch or dip the fruit

slices before drying them. There are several ways to do this. As indicated

below, some methods work better for some fruits than others.

 

Blanching (apricots, apples); Put slices in a steamer (or a colander suspended

in a pot of boiling water) for five minutes then place fruit in ice water to

stop the cooking. Drain and dry on towels.

Ascorbic acid dip (all fruits)

2 tbsps. ascorbic acid or 5 1-gram crushed vitamin C tabs and 1 quart water

 

Pectin dip (peaches, berries, cherries); Mix 1 box of powdered pectin with 1 cup

water. Boil together for 1 minute, then add ½ cup sugar and enough cold water to

make 2 cups.

 

Honey dip (bananas, peaches, pineapples); Mix 3 cups waters and 1 cup sugar..

Heat and then add 1 cup honey. Stir well.

 

Juice dip (peaches, apples, bananas); Combine 1 quart pineapple juice, 1 quart

lukewarm water and 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice.

 

4. Drying; Sun Drying

a) Spread on screen for two to four days, turning slices over half way through

the drying process.

b) Bring inside at night to keep dew from collecting on the fruit.

c) This method works best in climates with 100 degree heat and low humidity..

Otherwise use caution, or try the oven.

 

Oven Drying

a) Place fruit directly on racks or first spread 100 percent cotton sheet or

cheesecloth over oven racks.  b) Preheat oven to 145 degrees, propping door open

with wooden spoon to allow steam to escape.

c) Allow 4 to 12 hours to dry the fruit.

d) Food should be dry but pliable when cool. Test a few pieces to see if the

batch is ready

 

5. Post Drying; Put food in a big dry open pot in a warm, dry, airy location.

Stir once or twice a day for 10 days to two weeks.

 

6. Pasteurize; If you want to store the dried fruit for any great length of

time, it is best to pasteurize the slices to destroy any insect eggs. To do

this, when drying is complete, freeze the fruit for several days at zero degrees

in a deep freeze (the freezer compartment of a refrigerator won¢t do), or heat

in a 175 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes

 

7. Storage; Store in airtight ziplock bags or glass containers kept inside paper

bag to protect from light. Store in cool dry place. Since a refrigerator is cool

and moist, keep the dried fruit there only in the heat of summer, but make sure

the package is air tight.