How to make your own dried fruit easily?

Apart from the very particular taste of dried fruits, often much more powerful than the fresh fruit itself, it is also and above all an excellent preservation technique to dry them. Learn here how to make your own dried fruit.

Have a vegetable garden with fruit trees and all other fruits moreover, it also means confronting the problem of their storage and conservation. Dry them yourself is a very good way to enjoy its pleasure all year round!

Preparing your fruit for drying

If all the fruit dries up, they are not all equal when it comes to drying!

Wash the fruit well

Once dried, you will no longer be able to clean your fruit, so you must do the thing before. The problem is that if you wet them to wash them before drying them, you are adding a lot of water which will make the process much riskier.

So choose a “ dry cleaning » if possible, while avoiding the risk that a wild animal or a cat may have urinated on it for example. You can also rinse the fruit the day before of the harvest so that they dry before picking them.

Cut the fruit

It is therefore preferably a question of do not dry the whole fruit and cut it at least in two. Commercially whole dried fruits are produced using very energy-intensive processes such as gas. This industrialization of drying then makes it possible to dry fruit quicklyeven whole.

Instead, aim for the size of a two-euro coinwhatever the fruit and to be sure that it will dry quickly enough so as not to rot during the operation. A damson will be cut into quarters, a strawberry in half, a tomato into small quarters, etc.

Also read – Clementines: don’t throw away the peelings, discover 8 clever ways to use them

Dry fruit with an electric dryer

This is the safest, most accessible and most effective method when you do not master the subject. These are round or square baskets that are stacked on top of each other (the number depends on the models) and which is placed on a heating fan specially designed to.

All you have to do is place the fruit on the baskets andfollow drying instructions whether in terms of duration or temperature.

Good to know: a desiccator going heat your room for 6 to 10 hours depending on the fruits you are going to dry, but it will also perfume the air the smell fruit! If you dry several different fruits at the same time, put the strongest ones on top to prevent them from permeating the others.

desiccator

Dry the fruit on racks

Drying on shelves is the method that one could say ” traditional » drying and consists of small mesh screens fixed on wooden frames which allow the fruit to be placed on them to dry them.

Inexpensive and simple to implementthe method is more complex, because you have to find a shaded place (we do not dry the fruits in the sun otherwise they lose all or almost all their nutritional qualities), well ventilated and protected from humidity, which it either that of the morning dew or that of the afternoon storm.

Full of water, tomatoes are not easy to dry on shelves © Dionisvera

Also read – What to do with fruit stones? 4 easy recycling tips!

Storing Dried Fruit

Once your fruit properly driedthis does not mean that the trick is completely done.

Once dried, don’t wait a minute to place them in jars in glass. Carry out the manipulation preferably with fruit that is still warm if you have used an electric desiccator, this will consume the air in the closed jar and will greatly increase the shelf life.

Jar of tasty dried fruits © SunTime

Take care to have your hands completely dry when place your fruit in the jarsas any residual moisture could rot your stock. The same goes for when you open the jar to take your pittance in the months or even years that follow!