Dried plums in the oven at home. Dried plums at home: recipes

is a universal appetizer for daily and holiday menus. I recommend for the first time to cook a small portion of dried plums at the same time as some savory pastries or when you cook meat, fish in the oven. But I am sure that most gourmets will appreciate the delicious appetizer of ordinary plums with herbs and garlic. And in the future you will cook Hungarian according to the recipes below in rather big volumes! Dried plums are deliciously combined with soft and smoked cheeses, tender ham and doctor's sausage, and also perfectly emphasize the taste of boiled meat and poultry.

Dried plums for the winter in the oven

Ingredients:

Plum varieties Hungarian - 1 kg

young garlic - 4-5 cloves

fresh rosemary - 1-2 branches

fresh or dried thyme - a pinch

olive oil is delicious - 4-5 tablespoons.

Note: Rosemary and thyme can be substituted for dried Italian herbs. Olive oil is interchangeable with grape/sunflower oil.

How to cook dried plums in the oven:

Select ripe but firm plums. Wash, dry, be sure to remove the bones. My plums parted with the pits without any enthusiasm - therefore, they had a very casual look before drying.

Finely chop fresh rosemary with a knife so that the spice gives off all its aroma. Finely chop the garlic too. If you use dry herbs, they should be mixed and chopped.

Put the plum halves in a bowl, sprinkle with herbs and garlic, drizzle generously with olive oil and mix gently so that all the plums bathe in the oil-spicy marinade. If possible, cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour. If there is no time, you can start drying immediately.

Turn on the oven and heat up to 150C. Arrange the pickled plums on a baking sheet/in an aluminum dish in a single layer, cut side up. Important: plums should not float in oil, but each half is simply obliged to receive its portion of marinade.

Put the plums in the oven, after 5 minutes reduce the temperature to 110-120C. I advise you to dry the plums with the oven slightly ajar, so that the moisture can evaporate. The level of dryness of plums and drying time depends on your preference. For an average level - moderately dry up and juicy pulp, 2 hours in an ordinary electric oven is enough, even without the “convection” function. Ready dried plums look something like this:

For long-term storage, transfer the dried plums to a sterilized jar very carefully to keep the shape of the plums; slices of fresh garlic and fresh rosemary needles can be placed between the layers. If after pickling you still have juice and oil, pour into jars over the plums. If not, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to each jar. Store sun-dried plums, as well as in tightly closed jars in the refrigerator.

Serve cold dried plums on the table as an independent snack, as a wonderful addition to sandwiches, and also instead of a side dish for meat and fish dishes.

Spicy Dried Plums

To prepare this recipe, we need:

Plums - 1 kg

Garlic - 8 cloves

Cane sugar - 2 tablespoons

Rosemary - 1 bunch

Thyme - 1 bunch

Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoons

Black pepper

Cooking method.

First you need to wash the plums well in cool water, then wipe each one dry with a towel and cut lengthwise into two halves. Then the seeds should be removed from the fruit.

Next, you need to prepare a spicy filling separately. To do this, peeled garlic cloves should be crushed using a special press or on a fine grater. Tear off all the leaves from the thyme sprigs, and the needles from the rosemary.

After that, you need to combine garlic and herbs, add salt, sugar, vegetable oil and black pepper to them. Mix well.

Put a little spicy mixture on each half of the plums, then spread them on a baking sheet lined with paper and put them in the oven for 3-4 hours. Dried at a temperature of 110-120 degrees.

It turns out very tasty - I guarantee! Enjoy your meal!

It is very popular in cooking and is good for health. However, when buying dried fruits, there is no confidence in the absence of preservatives, pesticides and other chemicals, and they are not cheap. During the season, the price of fresh prunes is not so high, so let's figure out how to choose the right one, how to dry it properly and how to store prunes properly at home.

How to choose plums for drying

Not everyone makes good dried fruit. The fruits should be sweet, firm-fleshed and not watery. That's why the best varieties for the preparation of prunes - this is or "Renklod".

Important! Choose only whole ripe fruits without damage, bruising and wormholes.

It is advisable to divide them into several batches by size: larger ones will dry longer, smaller ones will dry out to a crunch during this time.

How to prepare fruit

Wash the fruits thoroughly and remove the stalks with leaves. The stone can be removed - then it will pass much faster, but the whole dried plum will have a richer taste and retain more nutrients.

In industrial conditions, fruits before drying blanched: dipped for a few minutes in a 0.1% solution of baking soda. Due to this, cracks form on the skin, which accelerates the evaporation of moisture.

After blanching, the plums are doused with cold water and dried with a paper towel or laid out on a cloth.

Did you know? If you plan to use prunes for confectionery purposes, then pour the plums with sugar syrup (450 g of sugar per 1 kg of fruit) and bring to a boil.

How to dry plums at home

There are several ways: drying plums in the oven, in an electric dryer, in the sun and in a microwave oven. Each of them has its limitations and advantages: availability, time, cost. Let's analyze them in more detail.

In the oven

Lay the prepared fruit on a baking sheet (if you cut them, then the skin down to avoid dripping juice). Place in oven preheated to 45-50 °С and dry them there for 3-4 hours.

After that, let them cool to room temperature and put them in the oven again, this time preheated to a temperature of 65-70 ° C. Keep it there for 4-5 hours and cool again. At the last stage, dry at a temperature of about 80 ° C until cooked.

Did you know? If you want prunes to be black and shiny, for the last 15 minutes of drying, raise the temperature to 100 - 105° C, then the fruit sugars on the surface of the plum caramelize, and it will acquire a characteristic sheen and a slight caramel flavor.

In an electric dryer

Spread the prepared plums evenly on the pallets of the electric dryer (if they are cut, then the skin down). Put the pallets in the dryer and process as described earlier: 3-4 hours at 45-50°C, let cool, 3-4 hours at 65-70°C, let cool again, and dry until cooked at 75-80°C. To ensure even drying, periodically swap trays.

in the microwave

Without a doubt, with this method, it takes the least time to dry each individual batch, but it will not work to load a large number of plums at the same time.

So, lay the prepared fruits in one row on a flat dish that can be used in the microwave. Set the power level to 300 W and turn on the microwave for 5 minutes. After that, checking the readiness of the product every 30 seconds, continue to dry the prunes until cooked.

Important! When cooking prunes in the microwave, it is very easy to overdry them to embers. The process must be constantly monitored!

In the sun

This is the longest, but also the most cheap way harvesting prunes for the winter. Place the halved plums, cut side up, on a paper-lined wooden or metal tray and place in the sun.

To protect against flies and others, cover it with gauze on top. Stir the fruit occasionally for better drying. The process will take 4 to 7 days. At night, remove the pallet from the street so that dew does not fall on the drying prunes.

How to determine the readiness of dried fruits

Ready prunes resilient, elastic, does not stick to hands, when bent, the skin should not crack. It should be soft, but not wet. Since it is difficult to achieve the same drying of fruits, to equalize the moisture in the finished product, you can decompose it into glass jars and close them hermetically with plastic lids for several days.

At the same time, moisture from slightly under-dried plums will be absorbed by over-dried ones. Banks must be shaken periodically. If drops of condensate form on the walls, then the prunes are not ready, and they must be dried.

How to store at home

Store dried fruits in paper or linen bags in a dark, dry, cool place out of direct sunlight, for example, in a pantry or refrigerator.

Do you still have a few kilograms of ripe plums left out of work? Then we recommend that you by all means prepare a universal and very original snack from them, which will fit any table, both on holidays and on weekdays. And its sweet version will be the best filling for baking and other desserts. A minimum of costs and a little time for preparing fruits in the summer and tasty, healthy harvesting will delight you with its delicious taste in winter and in the off-season, adding variety and suppressing boredom.

Spicy sun-dried plums - a recipe in the oven for the winter

Ingredients:

• large plums - 1.5 kg;
• fresh rosemary - 2-3 sprigs;
• thyme and dried basil - to taste;
• - 25 g;
• garlic - 5-6 cloves;
• refined vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil - 125 ml.

Cooking

Ripe and elastic plums without dents and damage are suitable for drying. We wash the fruits thoroughly in cold water, dry or wipe dry, cut in half and remove the seeds. You can divide the halves into quarters, then the drying time will be slightly reduced.

We lay the halves or quarters of plums on a baking sheet, previously covering it with foil, sprinkle with a little sea salt and pour over with a mixture of honey and olive oil. Finely chop fresh rosemary with a sharp knife, mix with dried basil and oregano and crush the cream on a baking sheet. All dry or fresh herbs are interchangeable, if fresh rosemary is not available, you can take dried and vice versa replace dried basil and oregano with fresh, finely chopped herbs.

We place the baking sheet in an oven heated to 120 degrees, leave the door slightly ajar and keep the cream to the desired degree of drying. This will take approximately three to five hours.

When ready, we put the dried plums in a sterile jar, alternating with garlic, after peeling it and chopping it into slices, and dry or fresh herbs. We warm up the olive or vegetable refined oil, without bringing it to a boil, and fill it with dried plums in a jar. We cork the lid, cool the workpiece and place it in a cool place for storage.

Dried sweet plums in the oven for the winter

Ingredients:

• large plums - 2 kg;
• granulated sugar - 0.4 kg.

Cooking

An ideal option for drying would be large fleshy plums of the Hungarian variety, which must first be washed well.

We cut the fruits in half, remove the seeds and put them in an enameled container, sprinkling a little sugar. From above we place a load on the plums and put in a cool place for several hours to separate the juice.

Then drain the juice, take out the plums in a colander to drain excess liquid, and then place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. We determine the fruits in an oven heated to sixty-five degrees, slightly opening the door. We stand the plums to the desired degree of drying. It is important not to overdo them oven to avoid getting just dry skins. An ideal dried plum does not release juice when squeezed, but remains flexible.

When ready, we put the plums in pre-prepared sterile jars, cork with lids and put them in a cool place for storage.

Previously drained plum juice can also be prepared for the winter and then used to make compotes, jelly, syrups and other dishes. To do this, heat it to a boil, boil for five minutes, pour hot into sterile jars and roll up the lid. Traditionally, we put the juice for self-sterilization under a warm blanket until it cools down and store it with other blanks.

Plums have long been considered an excellent object for harvesting. In the villages, these fruits were usually dried, soaked or made into compote. But dried plums still enjoy the greatest popularity to this day. The process of preparing them is quite long, but the result is a product with excellent taste.

Cooking methods

Those who have tried dried plums at least once know that they can be not only a fragrant dessert or a great snack.

These are juicy fruits, processed in a special way, in some cases they are used as an original side dish for meat. An unusual addition favorably sets off the taste of the main dish and makes it more enjoyable. To prepare dried plums, it is necessary to process products at elevated temperatures. For this you can use:

• Russian stove;
• oven;
• electric dryer.

For each of these options, there are specific modes and conditions that must be observed in order for the resulting product to meet the desired requirements. Basically, the technique boils down to the following steps:

1. General processing and partial crushing of fruits. Plums can also be dried whole.
2. initial heat treatment.
3. Introduction of additional components.
4. Final processing.

Depending on the option chosen, the result is a product with certain taste qualities.

The benefits and harms of spicy plums

As you know, the fruits of the plum tree are excellent helpers for the human body. They are capable of:

• cope with problems of the digestive tract;
• prevent blood clots;
• regulate the level of acidity in the human stomach;
• positively affect the functioning of the liver;
• maintain vision;
• remove toxins;
• normalize metabolism.

In addition, plums are often used as a cosmetic product, as they are able to nourish skin cells, rejuvenating and making it more elastic. Dried plums retain all these useful properties. Everyone can use them, except for those who have certain medical contraindications for this product. This category of people includes patients with diabetes or obesity, who are better off not including these fruits in their daily diet because of their high calorie content. Nursing mothers should also be wary of plums, so as not to cause colic or indigestion in babies.

DIY

Aromatic spicy plums can turn even the simplest dish into a real culinary masterpiece. That is why it is desirable for every housewife to have such useful products in stock at home. But for this, it is not necessary to go to the store. You can safely make dried plums at home. And this will require very few products: 1 kilogram of fresh plums, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, 100 milliliters of olive oil, allspice and black pepper, as well as dried herbs (rosemary, oregano and thyme).

Making dried plums at home is easy. For this you need:

1. Select for work only ripe, fleshy, but fairly dense fruits. After that, they need to be washed and dried thoroughly.
2. With a sharp knife, cut each plum into two halves and remove the seeds from them.
3. Sprinkle the slices lightly with salt and the dried herb mixture, then arrange them carefully on the baking sheet.
4. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees, and then send the prepared foods there for 5 hours.
5. At this time, you can peel the garlic and prepare the necessary dishes.
6. After processing, the plum slices should wrinkle a little and lose volume. Now they need to be folded into a glass container, alternating with the remaining spices and pieces of garlic.
7. Next, the products need to be poured with oil, corked and put in the refrigerator.

In this state, products can be stored for up to 3 months. At any time, they can be obtained and used for their intended purpose.

In the Mediterranean countries, spicy vegetables and fruits are very popular. So, in Italian cuisine there is a recipe with which you can make very tasty dried plums in the oven yourself. This will require the following set of ingredients: 1.2 kilograms of ripe plums, 80-90 milliliters of olive and 50 milliliters of vegetable oil, a pinch of sea salt, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons of a mixture of Mediterranean dried herbs with basil and a tablespoon of liquid honey.

The cooking process must be carried out in a certain sequence:

1. Remove the seeds from the washed fruits, and cut the remaining pulp into 4 parts.
2. Lay them skin side down on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment.
3. In a separate bowl, mix aromatic herbs with oil and honey. Pour the resulting mixture over the products.
4. After that, they need to be salted and sprinkled with herbs again.
5. Put a baking sheet with prepared fruits for 3 hours in the oven, preheated to 130 degrees.
6. In conclusion, dried quarters should be put in clean jars along with finely chopped garlic and fresh herbs (rosemary, basil), and then pour all this with olive oil and close tightly with a lid.

It is better to store such blanks after cooling in a cool place.

The simplest option

For those who are not used to savory flavors, you can suggest making sweet dried plums in the oven. It will be very simple, since only two main components are required for work: 2 kilograms of fresh plums and 400 grams of granulated sugar.

For work, it is better to choose the Hungarian variety. Its fruits are quite large and fleshy. The process technology in this case will be somewhat different:

1. First, as usual, the fruits must be washed, and then, cutting each of them in half, remove the seeds.
2. After that, the blanks must be folded into an enameled container (pan), sprinkled with sugar, and then, having installed a press on top, put in a cool place for several hours until juice appears on the surface.
3. The liquid must be separated by straining through a colander, and the halves themselves should be laid on a baking sheet, not forgetting to cover it with parchment.
4. Preheat the oven to 60 degrees, and then put the food in it, leaving the door slightly ajar. The duration of processing will depend on the desired degree of curing.

Finished products should simply be folded into sterile jars and, having covered them with a lid, put in a cool place.

In vivo

To get a delicious dried plum, the recipe can be simplified as much as possible by excluding any additional devices from it. So, for heat treatment it is not necessary to use an oven. It can be completely replaced by natural sunlight. For this option, you will need the main ingredients in the following ratio: 5 kilograms of plums (not overripe), 2 buckets of water and 80 grams of baking soda.

The work will be carried out in the following order:

1. First, the plums need to be sorted out, removing the rotten fruits.
2. After that, they must be cut lengthwise and the bones removed.
3. Boil water with soda (10 liters 80 grams), and then, laying the slices in a colander, lower them alternately into a boiling solution for 3 minutes.
4. Place processed foods immediately in a bucket of cold water.
5. After this, the workpieces must be washed, dried with a towel and, laid out on plywood sheets covered with gauze, exposed to the sun.
6. After a three-hour treatment, the fruits should be removed for 5 hours in the shade.
7. Repeat the alternation of heating and drying several times until the products become sufficiently elastic and liquid stops escaping from them when pressed.

It turns out very tender and fragrant dried plum. The recipe is good for rural residents and owners of summer cottages.

Technique to help

It is very easy to make dried plums in an electric dryer. This unit partly replaces the oven. Therefore, the same recipes are sometimes suitable for both devices. With the help of an electric drying chamber, many products are processed. And sometimes options are practiced when this requires minimal preparation of the main ingredient. This is how prunes are made in electric dryers.

Only fresh fruits, water and baking soda are needed for work. Drying of products occurs as follows:

1. First of all, the fruits must be blanched. To do this, they must first be dipped in a boiling soda solution for 30 seconds (15 grams of powder per 1 liter of liquid), and then immediately rinsed in cold water. It is necessary to ensure that cracks do not appear on the surface of the fruit. In this case, you need to either reduce the time of heat treatment, or reduce the concentration of the solution.
2. Spread the prepared plums on a tray covered with baking paper and send them to the drying chamber for 3 hours at a temperature of 50 degrees.
3. Take out the food and let it cool completely and lie down for 4 hours.
4. Send the plums back to the dryer. In this case, the temperature should be at least 75 degrees.

This alternation can be repeated for two days. The main thing is that the product remains elastic to the touch and no juice is released from the pulp when pressed.

spicy sweets

There is another original version, with which you can easily cook sweet dried plums. In this case, you need very little time, and only salt, spices and sugar are required as additional ingredients.

The cooking method is somewhat similar to the previous options:

1. Divide the washed plums in the usual way into two halves and remove the seeds from them.
2. After that, they need to be sprinkled with selected additional components. To make dried fruits as sweet as possible, all ingredients except sugar can be completely eliminated.
3. Place the products in the oven for a couple of hours at a temperature of 120 degrees and wait until the slices dry out a little. At the same time, they must retain their plasticity.

Finished products will only need to be transferred to clean glass jars and poured with oil. Store food in a cool place with a closed lid. For flavor, along with dried plums, you can put a little garlic. If only sugar was used, this should not be done.