Have you ever wanted to learn how to dry food at home? Drying your food is a great way to preserve it, but you should know that the quality of the food will not improve. For this reason, you need to select high-quality, mature foods. Sort products and separate low-quality food from high-quality food. Here are some tips to help you dry food at home.
Do you like raisins or dried apricots? Many people like to eat nuts because they are delicious and quite different from the fresh versions. Start by selecting the best quality ripe fruits for drying. Before trying to dry your favorite fruits, you should know that some fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits, are not ideal for this purpose because they are high in water content. If you are drying fruit for the first time, you should work with a smaller amount because it can take a long time. The first step is to clean the fruits thoroughly, under cold running water. If you find soft spots or bruises, use a fruit knife to cut out the affected parts. The stones, the core and the stems of the fruits must be removed. You may need to remove the skin from some types of fruits because the skin will become brittle or hard after drying. For high-quality and more nutritious fruits, it is best to cut them into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices.
Drying causes some fruits to turn brown, so you should use sulfur treatments on apricots, nectarines, peaches, apples, etc. In addition to blocking vitamins A and C during drying, sulfur treatments also help extend the shelf life of fruit and preserve the flavor of fresh fruit. The treatments used are sulfur and sulphite baths.
The color of the fruit can be preserved by blanching in syrup or steamed blanching. When blanched in syrup, the result is almost like candied fruit. Some of the fruits that are great for this process are prunes, plums, pears, peaches, figs, apricots, and apples. In steam blanching, the texture and flavor of the fruit are altered but the color is preserved. Steam blanching is very easy to do, but you need to make sure that the fruits are evenly blanched.
Another pretreatment method is known as a control. This procedure is recommended for fruits such as small dark plums, grapes, and cherries and is done to break down the skin. First, you should bring a pot of water to a boil in which you should immerse the fruit for about 30 to 60 seconds. Next, the fruit should be quickly put in cold water and you should use paper towels to drain the fruit.
In the past, people dried their food in the sun or in the oven. Today, many people choose to use food dehydrators because they are so easy to use and faster. Different times are needed to dry different foods. For example, apples can dry in about 6 to 12 hours, but the drying time for peaches is 35 to 48 hours.
