Preparation of dried fruits from prunes. Storage of dried plums in linen bags and paper bags

All of us, without exception, constantly buy dried fruits on the market - raisins, dried apricots, prunes, figs. Undoubtedly, it is very convenient, fast and almost always available, because there are departments with dried fruits in every supermarket. It is not always true that the quality and price of dried fruits fit certain parameters, but it also happens that having bought a handful or two of raisins or dried apricots, even in the refrigerator they are covered with mold, thereby indicating a violation of the production drying technology ...

Would you like to try making one of the most popular dried fruits - prunes at home? The simplest process, which will amaze with the result, because homemade prunes there is no comparison with the store counterpart! He has a deep expression to the maximum. fruity taste, striking plum aroma and excellent density. In addition, dried prunes at home are deprived harmful additives and wax, with which dried fruit is processed in industrial dryers for more long-term storage. A recipe with a photo of prunes made at home, which can be fearlessly eaten by everyone without exception, is already on our website!

To make prunes in the oven you will need (output - 1.5 kg):

• fresh plum "Hungarian" - 2 kg
• sugar - 200-250 g

How to make prunes at home - a simple recipe:

Plum varieties "Hungarian" take a ripe, non-acidic, but always dense. You can try other varieties that also have sweet elastic pulp, but "Hungarian" will still be ideal for making prunes at home. In such a plum, the stone separates well, which is what we need! We wash the plum, separate the tails, leaves and everything else unnecessary.

Carefully cut a groove on one side of each plum so that you can remove the stone without dividing the plum into two halves. You should get these "shells".

Pour a teaspoon (or how much will fit) of sugar into each plum-shell. We take a saucepan and put all the plums filled with sugar in the first layer on the bottom.

In the same way, fill the pan to the top, sprinkle more on top a small amount Sahara. We leave for a day. Periodically shake the pan so that the resulting syrup dissolves the sugar as much as possible.

A day later, sugar and plum juice form liquid syrup. It will not be too much, it will not completely cover the plum, but we do not need this.

We put the plum with syrup on a small fire and bring to a boil. We do not boil the plum, just mix it a couple of times in hot syrup and immediately remove from heat after the first signs of active boiling appear. The fruits will only warm up and slightly change the shade from blue-black to reddish-plum. We recline the plum in a colander and separate the syrup from it.

Now we take a baking sheet, cover it with parchment, lay out the heated plum in rows, leaving a little space between it.

We start to wilt. The drying process will be carried out in the oven, so if you have a home kitchen electric dryer, you can use it according to the instructions. We heat the oven to 60-70 degrees and place the baking sheet in the middle position, opening the door ajar and fixing a small crack with a wooden spatula. The cooking time for prunes at home in the oven is individual, depending on the size, type of plum, on average from 4 to 8 hours.

In the process, the drain must be turned over to the other side so that it dries evenly on all sides. Determine the readiness of the plum by such signs: it should not be wet, but become elastic and dense.

When the plum has dried sufficiently, soak it for 2-3 days in a room, on a kitchen window sill or on a sunny balcony for the final result.

Prunes at home are ready!

Now it can be used for its intended purpose - just use it as healthy snack, add to cereals, desserts and pastries.

Bon appetit!

It is better to take a ripe plum, but with dense pulp (the “Hungarian” variety is ideal, although I successfully made prunes from large, dense round plums of an unknown variety).

• Plums should be washed, dried and pitted. IN this case, do not divide into halves, cook with whole fruits.
  
• Next, our task is to fill the plums with sugar and get more juice. If in the case of cherries, I did not know where to put the juice, then the plum gives the juice reluctantly. The first time I covered everything with sugar, and put oppression. A day later, sugar was still a white slide on the surface of the plums.
  The second time, I poured sugar into the middle of each plum, laid it in layers in a pan, and sprinkled each layer with sugar as well. It did not take much time (after removing the pits from the cherries, little frightened me at all :)), but it gave a good result.
  In addition, I periodically stirred the contents of the pan. As a result, juice stood out, which was enough to make syrup.
• Put the pot on medium fire and heat to a boil.
  Gently mix the plum, make sure that all the fruits "pass" the syrup.
  Bring to a boil, but do not cook, while the plum will change color like in the photo.
  Turn off the stove and let the drain cool down.
• Strain the plums from the syrup (use a colander or sieve) and spread it in one layer on a cloth or thick paper to dry.
  
• Next, put the future prunes on a sheet covered with parchment, and send it to the ajar oven. Temperature 40-60 degrees. The presence of a special dryer for vegetables and fruits would greatly simplify the process, but I have not yet purchased such an assistant for myself. So for now, we are making prunes in the oven at home. You can, of course, dry prunes and outdoors, but then the cooking time is much longer. I have chosen the optimal mode for myself: the prunes dry in the oven for 3-4 hours, and then I bring it to the desired condition on the windowsill for about another 24-36 hours. (It all depends on the weather).
  
  
• I do not recommend increasing the temperature in the oven to speed up the process - you will lose quality. And in general, it will no longer be dried prunes.
• I determine the readiness of prunes “by eye”, it should not be wet, but elastic and dense.
• I package ready-made homemade prunes in paper bags and store them in the freezer.
  I read that you can store room temperature or in the refrigerator, but I'm making sure. There was a sad experience of storing purchased prunes in the refrigerator. As a result, after a week it became moldy. I had to throw everything away. Therefore, I don’t risk with my own, homemade, “cherished and suffered” :)
• This is how it turned out dried prunes at home, partially cooked using the oven. Be sure to try it, feel the difference with a purchased product of dubious origin or exorbitant price. After that, homemade dried fruits - prunes, plums, and even cherries and strawberries, will definitely be on your menu. (I read a lot about berries, but I didn’t try to do it myself, I want to take a chance this year). Join and enjoy healthy appetite.

If a Hungarian plum grows in your dacha, be sure to try making dried prunes. This delicious dried fruit will become irreplaceable source natural vitamins and vegetable fiber.

It can be put in pies and other pastries, used for cooking meat and vegetable dishes, salads, desserts, compotes, or you can just chew as a kind fruit candies. Pitted prunes are more convenient to use in cooking, but when dried with a stone, the berry retains much more useful substances.

Prunes are especially useful for those who suffer from diabetes: sweet dried fruit practically does not contain sugar - only fructose and glucose. Overweight people can nibble on it if they feel like eating something sweet.

Preparing plums for drying

To prepare prunes, you need to choose large, but not overripe. If you take soft berries, when dried, juice will flow out of them, and good prunes will not work. It is advisable to sort by choosing plums of the same size for drying. Selected berries must be washed, the “tails” removed and blanched in water with soda to remove the wax coating.

Take a spoonful of soda per liter of boiling water, stir, then lower the plums in a colander, hold for about 30 seconds, remove and pour over cold water to remove soda, then spread on a towel to dry the berries. On the surface right blanched plums you can see small cracks through which moisture will quickly be removed.

Drying plums

To obtain prunes, drying will have to be divided into three stages, so the whole process will take two to three days. During drying, you must strictly maintain the temperature of the oven so as not to get baked plums instead of dried ones - they, of course, are also tasty, but they will not be stored for a long time.

Washed and dried plums should be laid out on a baking sheet in one row, trying so that they do not touch each other. Meanwhile, the oven is heated to 45-50 degrees - at this temperature, the plums should be dried for 4-5 hours. It is not necessary to close the door tightly so that moisture can freely exit the oven.

At the end of drying, you should take out the baking sheet, turn the plums over and leave to cool, covering them with light gauze from insects.


The second stage of drying takes place at a temperature of about 60 degrees. It also takes 4-5 hours, and at the end of it, the plums taken out of the oven must be turned over.

At the third stage, plums are dried at a temperature of 80-90 degrees. Drying usually takes 5-6 hours, but at this stage you should look into the oven from time to time and check the condition of the drains so as not to overdry them.

10-15 minutes before the end of drying, heat should be added to 120 degrees - thanks to this, the sugar protruding on the surface of the plums caramelizes, making the skin glossy and shiny.

Natural drying of plums

If worth hot weather, but time is not in a hurry, you can dry the plum naturally. To do this, prepared plums must be laid out on a baking sheet or dish and taken out in the sun. For drying, it is advisable to choose a place that is illuminated by the sun all day.

By evening, the baking sheet should be removed into the house so that night moisture does not settle on the plums. Natural drying takes 5-6 days. Every day, plums need to be turned over, substituting under Sun rays different sides. Ready prunes should be moderately soft, elastic, not overdried.

Prunes storage

Ready, well-dried prunes are best stored in a paper bag. Even if the berries are not dried out a little, the rest of the moisture will come out over time. IN sealed container- glass or ceramic jar- Only prunes that have lost all moisture should be folded, otherwise the berries may become moldy.


To prevent moths or other insects from starting in dried fruits, you can shift them with a bay leaf, the smell of which repels any pests. In addition, the leaves absorb the rest of the moisture, preventing mold from developing.

Prunes are very tasty and healthy treat which is especially popular in winter time. Dried prunes are rich useful trace elements and vitamins, and therefore its constant use is very beneficial for health and for strengthening the immune system. Prunes are great for a variety of diets. Prunes have a very positive effect on work gastrointestinal tract. Prunes also strengthen nervous system and normalizes blood pressure.

Prunes have many varieties and for this reason, only those varieties that are most suitable for this should be dried. by the most the best variety for drying, the variety of prunes "Italian Hungarian" is considered. These plums have elastic pulp, dense skin, large fruits, of blue color with a bluish tinge. Also, for drying, such varieties of prunes as: "Burton", "Hungarian Violet", "Raisin-Eric", "Hungarian Azhanskaya" and "Ugorka" are used.

To prepare quality product you need to properly prepare the plums. For this, plums are plucked only as ripe as possible. Fruits that have fallen to the ground are not suitable for drying. In order to properly harvest prunes, you need to shake the tree so that wormy and rotten fruits fall. The next day, you can pick plums from the branches.

In order to prepare prunes for drying, it is necessary to withstand the fruits in baskets, on fresh air within 3 days. The plums are then sorted and sorted by size. Selected plums should be washed very well until the fruits begin to drain. clear water. Next, the prunes are subjected to heat treatment and poured with hot water.

After that, the prunes must be treated with alkali. To do this, a solution is prepared from one percent caustic soda, which is boiled, after which the prunes are poured and kept in soda for 20 seconds. Next, the prunes are cooled and washed from soda. This procedure is done in order to remove the wax coating that is on the skin of the prunes.

Drying prunes

Drying prunes is significantly different from drying other fruits and berries. First, prunes need to wither. To do this, the fruits are placed in a special dryer and dried at a temperature of 40-50 degrees for several hours. After that, the temperature is raised and dried like other fruits.

Good afternoon, my dear readers!

We have an incredible amount of plums this year. And all this in our backyard, with our dear and beloved mother - grandmother. This September, we have collected, neither less nor more, about seven 10-liter buckets of sweet and delicious plums!

Now we just enjoy it - we eat it in the quantities that are most desirable for us, which are simply not limited, we treat friends and acquaintances. There are no those in our family who do not like this fruit, so a 5-liter bucket per day goes away easily and simply))

And yet, I managed to freeze the fruits for the winter, cook some jam and cook the most useful prunes at home, the recipe of which is now in front of your eyes. I'll post the recipe in one of my next posts. french dessert from plums. Drop by!

I chose the dried prunes option. Also, you can cook and dried, which cooks faster. Only you need to store it in a sterile closed jar, preferably in the refrigerator. And dried prunes are well stored in a linen bag or paper bag at room temperature.

Cooking prunes at home

Ingredients:

• Plum - about 2 kg

Exit dried product: 900g

My cooking method:

1. My plum and free from stones

2. We spread the fruits on a baking sheet covered with foil, which can be greased with a very thin layer vegetable oil what I didn't do

3. Turn on the oven at 80 - 100ºС and put a baking sheet there, slightly opening the oven door

4. After about three hours, you can turn off the oven and close it until it cools down. During this time, the secreted juice will evaporate

5. Turn on the oven again with temperature regime= 80ºС, open the door and dry for another 8-9 hours. You can leave the dried fruit in the oven turned off overnight so that the moisture from the fruit completely evaporates.

Ready! We try it and put it in bags for storage.

If you want to receive dried plums the whole process will take you 5-6 hours. Only the oven must first be turned on at 120ºС and not opened until the juice has evaporated, then turn off the oven, as in the case of drying plums. And turn it on again at 70-80ºС, slightly open the oven door and continue the drying process.

Good luck with your cooking! I look forward to your comments.

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