How to dry apples at home

At the end of summer and autumn, when the apples ripen amicably, literally all the housewives fall into a state of mild panic: preserves and jams are boiled for the whole coming winter, the stewed fruit is preserved, the juice is pressed, the bottles are occupied with future wine, which is still standing and wandering, and ripe, juicy the fruit is all coming! What to do, where to harvest, what else to cook?

If selling surpluses or distributing them to friends and neighbors does not work out, the most reasonable solution is to dry the apples. In the form of dried fruits, they lie well for many months and do not deteriorate, retain all useful substances, including vitamins. They can be used to cook compote, bake pies, decorate salad or meat dishes, and just drink a cup of tea in the bite with a slice of dried fruit is very tasty.

What varieties of apples are best for drying

Different varieties of apples are suitable for drying - both summer and autumn. If you take a slightly unripe fruit, then in dried form they will be quite dense, beautiful beige-red color. If it is assumed that dried fruits will be used instead of sweets for tea, it is better to take sweet varieties. The chips resulting from such apples will be soft, friable, with brownish patches of sugar, baked during drying.

Even white filling is suitable for drying. Usually housewives are reluctant to use it for other harvesting, because in jam or stewed apple slices fall apart, turn into porridge and acquire an unpresentable appearance. Since it usually ripens during the hot summer, it can be completely dried in the sun, in the open air, which will allow you not to spend on electricity, which would be consumed if the drying took place in an electric dryer, air grill or microwave.

In some families, even wild apples brought from the forest go to the dryer.

But still, the fruits of the autumn ripening period will be the best choice for drying, usually they are hard, sour-sweet. They perfectly retain their taste in dried form. It can be both traditional old varieties - such as Antonovka, Pepin and Aport, and younger, but already quite widespread in the gardens - Welsey, Gala, Lobo, Golden Delishes, Athlete, Bolotovskoe, Mac, Orlovsky striped, Borovinka, seedless and other autumn apples. All of them, in dried form, differ from each other in taste, so you can always choose those that are suitable for compote, and those that are put in the form of fillings in pies that are so nice to bake on a cold winter evening.

How to choose the right

It is not at all necessary to choose the best fruits for drying; both carrion and apples, slightly bitten by insects, are quite suitable. Of these, you can always cut suitable slices or rings.

You should not choose large fruits, it is better to give preference to medium or small apples - their skin is thinner and seed boxes are slightly developed, so there will be less waste. In addition, slices of large apples are obtained too large, awkward.

How to prepare apples for drying

It is best to dry the apples in batches, dividing by grades: one variety - one batch. Inside the party, it is desirable to sort the fruits by size: small to small, medium to medium. In this way they will achieve good condition at the same time.

The fruits need to be thoroughly washed, especially if they are purchased and it is not known under what conditions they grew and with what formulations they were processed from diseases and insects. Then immediately you can start slicing apples into slices or circles, it is important that they are all about the same thickness - but not more than 0.5 cm.

Peeling is not necessary, it will help maintain the shape of the pieces and a fruity aroma. In addition, it is the peel that is rich in fiber, which is necessary to improve digestion and restore order in the intestines. To take out seed boxes or not, each mistress decides for herself.

Slices of sweet summer varieties can be dipped for about 10 minutes in water, where lemon juice is poured (a large spoon per liter of liquid). Due to the acidic environment they will not darken. Special connoisseurs of apples add pineapple juice to this solution, which adds sweetness to the finished product and muffles citric acid. Some housewives dissolve ascorbic acid in water (10 tablets per glass of liquid).

There are lovers of soaking apple slices in salt water (100 grams per bucket of liquid). This composition also allows the pieces to remain light. It is especially suitable for drying apples in the sun, because salt helps to protect them a bit from flies.

Having removed the pieces from the acidic or saline solution, you need to put them on a towel or any other cotton cloth to make glass water, and only then send them to dry.

How to dry apples at home

When choosing a method of drying apples, one must proceed from how much time is available for this.

So, for apples that are dried in the fresh air and the sun, depending on the density of the pulp and air temperature, the readiness time is from three to seven days. On the grilles you can simultaneously take out a large amount of raw materials.

For drying in the oven, 8-10 hours is enough, but the amount that can be prepared at one time is limited by the size of the pan.

In electric dryers, fruits reach the desired condition faster than in the oven - in 6-7 hours, and several apple trays will fit on several trays, the so-called “floors” of the dryer.

The microwave will cope most quickly with drying, but you can put the smallest number of fruits in it.

In the oven

Correctly drying the apples in the oven does not mean just spreading them on a baking sheet and turning on the gas, forget for a few hours. You will have to carefully monitor the process, because from which mode will be selected, you can get a product with completely different properties. Particular attention will be required at the end of drying: if pieces are not removed from the oven in time, it is very easy to dry them.

If you want crispy dried fruits, moderately hard, you need to start the process in the oven, heated to 70–75 degrees, and after a couple of hours reduce the temperature to 50–55 degrees.

And so that the finished slices are plastic, soft, easily chewed, you need to start at a lower temperature - about 40 degrees, and then raise it and bring it to 60.

The cut apples must be spread out in an even thin layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment. It is not necessary to close the oven door during drying, since it is necessary that the air inside does not stagnate, but can freely circulate from inside to outside, while dragging excess moisture along with it. The open door of the hot oven, of course, does not have a very good effect on its further operation. It is better if there is a convection mode in the oven, in which case you can keep the door closed.

To achieve uniform drying, apple slices need to be mixed from time to time, and it is better to turn over, because due to the fact that the baking sheets are continuous, without holes, hot air does not blow raw materials from all sides.

In an electric dryer

There is nothing complicated in harvesting dried fruits in an electric dryer, even a novice, inexperienced housewife can handle this.

The rings will take up too much space on the shelves of the dryer, so it is more convenient to put apples cut into thin slices into it. It is necessary to lay the slices tightly on the shelves and assemble the dryer, fixing all the "floors". Set the time on the timer - 4 hours - and the temperature - 70 degrees - and you can safely do other things. A smart device by a characteristic squeak itself will remind you of the completion of the process.

But that is not all.Since in an ordinary household dryer hot air comes out from below, and passes through all the “floors”, rising up, the apples lying on the lower shelves will dry more than on the upper ones. Therefore, you need to swap the "floors" in places: the upper - lower, lower - raise. And again run the dryer for 3 hours at a temperature of 70 degrees. But this is a general recommendation: depending on the variety, the apples may dry a little earlier, or it will take a little more time for the product to be ready.

Check if the apples are ready, you can read already when they began to darken noticeably and decreased. If moisture does not stand out from the broken piece, however, the flesh is light and aromatic, and the surface has already turned into a crust and browned, then the product is ready.

A big plus of this drying method is that in its process apples do not require attention and save the time of the hostess. In addition, the device maintains a constant and quite gentle temperature, the fruits are not burned, as is quite possible in the oven, but are dried, thanks to which maximum vitamins are saved in them. Dried apples are perfectly stored for 10 months.

In the microwave

Drying fruits in the microwave in the summer is especially convenient, since it does not produce as much heat as the oven, which is valuable in the heat. In addition, it is fast and affordable - because in almost every family there is a microwave oven today. However, in order for the drying process to proceed normally and in the end to get high-quality dried fruits, you will have to adapt and select the time and power by trial and error. However, since many apples do not fit in the microwave, in case of failure, the losses will be small - if you do not take into account the energy consumption, which is two times higher than the electric dryer when the microwave is working.

Be sure to dry the sliced ​​apples with a towel to remove all the water droplets remaining after washing the fruits, and putting them on a plate, send them to the microwave. Turn it on and set the mode to 600-700 watts, which will correspond to a temperature of 75 degrees, and the time is 3 minutes. After that, check to what condition apples have reached. In order not to overdry the product, set the timer for 30 seconds and after stopping again to see what the fruit slices look like. Thus, repeating 30-second sessions, you can catch the very moment when the apples get the necessary look and structure. The skin will fade, and the flesh will no longer stick to the hands. A properly dried slice will be a nice cream color (winter varieties are darker), soft and pleasant to the touch.

If you need crispy apples like chips, you need to hold them longer - for a total of up to 15 minutes - and add power. And so that both sides of the apple become the same color, you can turn the wedges into one of the breaks.

If the pieces are dried unevenly, you can take out part of the dried fruit at the next stop of the program, then the rest will dry out faster.

Despite the fact that the heating temperature of apples in the microwave corresponds to that which is usually installed in an electric dryer, due to the use of microwave waves, the process proceeds differently - heating and evaporation of moisture go from the inside. This does not have the best effect on the vitamins contained in the fruits - they are destroyed more than with other drying methods.

In the air grill

An air grill is just like an electric dryer, an ideal device for harvesting apples. With its help, it is possible to evenly remove moisture from the fruit. You can bring dried fruits to the desired condition within an hour, and this is much faster than when drying in air, in the oven or in an electric dryer. The finished product is tender, with moderately viscous pulp. The only flaw in drying in the air grill is that you can load an extremely limited number of apples into it. To dry a large batch of fruits, you need to divide it into several parts and repeat the process more than once.

The creators of the air grill did not assume that the ingenious housewives would learn how to dry fruits in this appliance, so there is no drainage provided. This means that the lid must be kept open during drying.

Thin slices of apples should be laid out on the grill grids so that there are gaps between the slices - for free blowing. Set the temperature regulator to 100 degrees, fix the air flow rate regulator on the label “low airflow”. On those models where this mark is not, set the regulator as close as possible to the beginning of the scale. With these parameters, dry the apples for an hour, after which the process is stopped and see what condition the fruit is sliced ​​in.

If it turns out that the apples are not completely dry, set the temperature to 120 degrees for the preparation of subsequent portions. The efficiency of the drying process in the new mode depends on several factors - both on the model of the air grill and on the variety of apples.

The air grill, like an electric dryer, does not require the attention of the hostess while drying fruits and frees up time for other things, which is undoubtedly the first plus. The second plus - this procedure takes a little time. But there is also a minus - the temperature in this device is too high, as a result, the apples stick to the lattice, and the fruits themselves, having dried outside, sometimes do not have time to reach readiness inside. It should also be taken into account that a working device raises the ambient air temperature, which is not very good in summer, when it is hot in the street and in the house.

In a slow cooker

The slow cooker is also suitable for drying, but due to the small size of its bowl, many apples cannot be dried at the same time.

The apples cut by rings or slices should be laid out in a thin layer in a bowl where parchment paper is pre-lined. Dry fruits in two steps. At the first set the temperature to 70–80 degrees and start the slow cooker for 3–3.5 hours in the “Baking” mode. During this time, more than half of the liquid evaporates from the fruits. At the second stage, at a lower temperature — about 50 degrees or 3-5 degrees higher — continue drying in the “Preheat” mode for about 7–9 hours. In total, the time should be 10-12 hours. Do not close the crock-pot during the whole process, starting from the first stage. Occasionally apple slices can be mixed to dry more evenly.

Subject to all the rules, the finished product will have a beautiful brownish-yellowish tint, but if the drying process is tightened, the dried fruits will dry out and darken. Due to the low heating temperature, it will be possible to preserve all the vitamins and other useful and nutritious substances in the fruits.

As a result, 130 grams of dried fruits will come out of a kilogram of apples.

In the sun

Drying in the air, under the sun - the most economical option in terms of energy consumption, but at the same time the most inconvenient. After all, you need to have enough space where the fruits will be for a sufficiently long period of time - for example, set up special tables or workbenches. The fruit slices themselves need to be laid either on some sort of grate or on trays.

At the same time, the owner for several days appears to be tied to apples, he can’t go far: suddenly it will rain and they will need to be rescued urgently? And in hot weather, you will have to turn the pieces regularly, perhaps more than once a day, so that the drying is uniform on both sides and the dried fruits do not burn.

However, the big plus of air drying is that you can decompose a lot of apples at the same time, and with constant sun and heat they will dry quickly, decreasing in size, so that it will be possible to shift dried pieces and make room for new servings. However, do not lay slices cut on different days on the same tray or on the same grill.

Some housewives dry apples on a string by stringing fruit rings on it like beads. This saves space, fruit "beads" can be hung even on the balcony, but in this way the fruits are dried and ventilated worse than when unfolded.

In any case - even in trays, even on ropes - apples are better covered with gauze to protect them from flies.Pre-soaking the slices in salt water saves from insects only for the first time.

At night, trays with pieces of apples should be brought from the street to the house in order to save dried fruits from night coolness or possible unexpected rain and morning dew.

It is not necessary to wash the apples that are planned to be dried in the air, it is enough to wipe them with a towel - albeit wet, even dry - because during the street drying they will get dirty anyway: they can sit on flies and fly dust with sand. That is, before use, the finished product will have to be soaked and thoroughly washed, unlike that which is dried in an oven, electric dryer, air grill or multicooker, which always remain clean. When carefully stored in a tightly closed container, they are completely ready for use - they do not need to be washed.

It is better to cut and lay apples in the early morning, so that during the day, in the evening, they already have time to properly fry in the sun and find the outer dry crust.

It is not necessary to lay out the slices evenly and neatly, one to one - as, for example, in an electric dryer. Simply sprinkle them in a thin layer on the trays. During the day, apples are either ted up by hand, or simply shake the tray.

Usually, in good hot weather, dried fruits are ready in a week.

How to dry apples for the winter

For the harvesting of apples for the winter, all of the above methods are suitable - from street drying in the sun to the use of electrical appliances. It is important to remember that those fruits that are dried in the sun, before being stored, it is better to hold for several minutes in a hot oven. To do this, you need to heat it up to 100-120 degrees, turn it off and immediately put in the baking sheets with dried fruits, which are kept with the door closed, until the oven has completely cooled down. This is necessary to disinfect the product. In other drying methods, apples will be disinfected already in the process.

What should properly dried apples look like?
Well-dried apples are dry on the outside, but quite resilient and not brittle. Their flesh is lighter inside than the outer crust, but it does not emit moisture and is not sticky to the touch. Such pieces are easy to chew.

In apples dried in compliance with all the rules, the skin loses its luster, becomes dull and becomes darker than fresh. In this case, the color of the pulp itself can be different - from light shades of cream to brown-red. It depends on a combination of different factors: the variety of fruits, the timing of their harvest, on what plant protection products the trees were treated with and what fertilizers were fed, and even on the weather in which the crop was harvested. Apples of late autumn and winter varieties will be darker, summer apples will be much lighter. It is not necessary to achieve a darker shade of the finished product and to dry the apples longer, because this leaves less vitamins and other useful substances in the fruits.

How many fresh apples are dried

Weight reduction during drying occurs due to evaporation of water, as a result, as a rule, the weight of the product is reduced by about 85 percent. So it turns out that 130 to 150 grams of the finished product comes out of a kilogram of apples, depending on their variety, after drying.

How to store dried apples

And then the apples are dried and ready to go for winter storage. The landlady spent a lot of time and effort to process a rich harvest. So that all efforts do not go to dust, it is necessary to ensure the correct storage conditions for dried fruits.

To do this, first of all, after drying, the apples must be carefully sorted in order to reveal - suddenly, among the absolutely dry slices, one or two were withered. If they are not found on time, they can spoil the entire batch of apples.

Dried dried fruits should be poured into one large pillowcase and left for a couple of weeks. During this time, the moisture level will even out inside the pieces, which will prevent the possible appearance of rot or mold on the product. And only after aging in the pillowcase, the slices of the fruit must be divided into small portions and distributed over the container in which they will be stored all winter - cotton bags or cardboard boxes. Plastic containers and bags made of polyethylene are completely unsuitable for dry apples.

It is important that the room where the dried fruits will lie is well ventilated, and not only cool, but also dry, because in a humid environment apples deteriorate very quickly. It is also necessary to take into account that dried fruits easily absorb extraneous odors; therefore, their proximity to substances spreading strong aromas should be avoided. In addition, bags and boxes of the finished product should not be accessible to mice. Subject to all the above conditions, apples will perfectly retain their beneficial qualities and appearance for 10 months.

You can immediately prepare small sets, which you can later take to work or on the road as a snack. To do this, in very small (portioned) boxes or bags, in addition to dried apples, put a small handful of nuts, candied fruits, dried or dried berries or fruits - apricots, cherries, cranberries, black currants, raisins or plums. Such sets in a cool room will be remarkably preserved for six months.

Some housewives also prepare baking sets in advance by adding cinnamon to apple bags. This storage option is also possible, but a shorter period - so that the aroma of the spice does not have time to weather.

If you need to save dried fruits for a longer time, they are cleaned in the freezer.

What are the benefits of dried apples

Scientists have noticed that over the course of a whole year, dried fruits lying in compliance with all the rules, apples lose no more than 5 percent of nutrients. Dried apples are valued primarily because almost all vitamins are stored in them. So, there is more vitamin B in them than in those that have just been ripped from the tree. Vitamin C is less than in fresh fruits, but it is still present in sufficient quantities in dried fruits. The volume of vitamins A, H, PP and K. practically does not decrease from drying.

In dried apples, the amount of potassium increases compared to fresh ones, because of this, dried fruits have a good diuretic effect. The content of trace elements such as iron and copper is also increased. Therefore, dried apples are an excellent way to prevent iron deficiency anemia.

There are sodium, phosphorus in dried fruits, which strengthen teeth and the skeletal system; beneficial effect on the nervous system and brain function manganese; magnesium, used to eliminate depression and prevent heart disease; fiber and sugar (fructose and sucrose), which give the body energy.

Dry apples are very nutritious, because the water from them is almost completely removed: in 100 grams of fruits - about 250 kcal.

Dried apples are useful for all organs and systems of the body, only those people who suffer from gastritis, peptic ulcer and duodenal ulcer need to be careful with them. To improve the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, dried fruits are a real treasure. They can inhibit the formation of atherosclerotic plaques, protect against a heart attack or stroke, help establish heart rate and alleviate the condition in coronary heart disease. Dried fruits are very useful for those who have suffered a heart attack - they restore and support strength.

At the time of the recession of autumn-winter colds and respiratory infections, dried apples due to the complex of vitamins contained in them, which support the functioning of the immune system at a high level, can protect a person from the disease.Many doctors are sure that the regular use of such dried fruits can completely dispense with pharmacy vitamin preparations.

Fiber of dry apples allows you to cleanse the intestines and adjust its motility and regularity of emptying. In addition, intestinal microflora improves.

Dried apples are simply necessary for women as a means of preserving the beauty of hair and skin. They help strengthen hair and increase its volume. With the systematic use of the product, the appearance of the skin improves, it brightens and looks younger, fresher and more attractive. Dried fruits will help pregnant women fight pigment spots on their faces and reduce swelling.

Dry apples are useful to older people for their ability to improve memory, and it is easier to concentrate.