The perfect DIY product: how to dry prunes at home? How to make prunes at home

Due to its pleasant taste and aroma, prunes are widely demanded in cooking. In addition, dried fruit in winter serves as a source of vitamins, dietary fiber and organic acids, the deficiency of which is experienced by everyone in this period. Find out how prunes are harvested from the recipes presented in the article.

Natural drying of prunes

As a feedstock for the production of prunes, it is recommended to choose plum varieties with large dark-colored fruits, a sweet taste and an easily separated stone, for example, "Eel", "Tragedy", "Wanheim's Hungarian" or "Azhanskaya Hungarian".

To prepare 1 kg of prunes, you will need to take 4.5 kg of fully ripened dense fruits. The process of harvesting prunes is carried out in several ways - in natural conditions, in the oven and in an electric dryer. Harvesting prunes by a natural method will take 8-10 days. The process itself includes several stages:

Training. Before laying out for drying, the stalks are removed from the plums selected for harvesting, then they are washed, divided into halves. Lay out on wooden trays in one layer, cut up, at some distance from each other.
Drying in the sun. To carry it out, trays with plums are taken out into the air and set in the sun. Covered with gauze from insects, soak for about 5 days. To prevent mold from forming on them during this time, the fruits must be turned several times daily.
Drying in the shade. Already dried plums should be transferred to a shaded place and kept there for about 3-4 days.

Advice. Harvesting prunes will be faster if the fruits are pre-blanched by dipping for a minute in boiling water with soda - 1 tbsp. soda per 1 liter of water, and then, removing it, rinse with cold water. The cracks formed on the plum skin will allow the pulp to dry faster.

How to dry prunes in the oven

This method allows you to harvest prunes much faster than when drying naturally. As in the previous recipe, the plums selected for harvesting must be washed and blanched in a soda solution for up to 2 minutes, then rinsed with water and air-dried for an hour.

Advice! In order for prunes to turn out to be of high quality and tasty, it is recommended to dry them together with the seeds.

Heating the oven to t ° 60 ° C, it is necessary to place prepared plums in it and keep them at this temperature for 5 hours. After taking it out, let it rest for another 5 hours just in the air. The next stage of drying in the oven is carried out at t ° 70 ° C and lasts 6 hours, after which the product is again allowed to settle for some time. At the final stage, prunes are dried until ready at t ° 80 ° C.

It is important when drying prunes in the oven, do not overdry it. The fact that it is completely ready can be judged by its appearance - the fruits, while maintaining a soft texture, do not secrete juice. It is necessary to store such a product in jars, tightly closing the lid. The best place is a pantry or a balcony.

Prunes in an electric dryer

Before laying the fruits in an electric dryer, they are prepared similarly to the previous recipes, that is, they are sorted out and washed. If the plum is dried whole, then the fruits should definitely be blanched in a soda solution, but if they are divided into halves and the seeds removed, you can do without blanching. Preparing prunes:

at the first stage, the plums are dried in an electric dryer at t ° 50 ° C for 3-4 hours, after which they must be cooled. If fruits divided into halves can be processed, they are laid out with slices up;
the second stage - drying the fruits in an electric dryer at t ° 60 ° C for another 5 hours, after which the fruits must be cooled again;
the third stage is drying at t ° 80 ° C for 6 hours.

Attention! In order for the drying of the fruits to take place evenly, it is necessary to periodically change the pallets in places.

Prunes prepared in this way should also be stored in jars, in ventilated areas. You can use the finished product when preparing other dishes or as an independent delicacy.

The original recipe for sweet prunes

To prepare several jars of this delicacy, you need a kilogram of plums, a pound of sugar and 2 stacks. water.

Prepare the fruits by removing the seeds from them and dividing them into halves.
Prepare the syrup, put the plums in it, bring to a boil.
Take out the fruits, let the syrup drain, spread the plums on a baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar.
Place in an oven preheated to t° 50°C. Dry at this temperature in 3 stages. The duration of each stage is 12 hours. + 12-hour breaks between them.
Put the finished product in jars and use it as an independent dish or as a component in the preparation of desserts or drinks.

Having prepared plums according to the presented recipes, you can diversify the winter diet and enjoy the taste of prunes by adding dried or dried homemade product to your usual dishes.

How to cook prunes: video

There are three options for the actual drying process:

natural drying in the fresh air, in the shade, at a sufficiently high ambient temperature and low humidity;
using an air grill or electric dryer;
oven use.

How to dry prunes at home: the best harvesting methods

Each of the methods has its own subtleties of the drying process. So, for a natural option, a longer cooking period is needed, in addition, it is necessary to regularly turn the fruits over to evenly remove moisture.

The oven noticeably speeds up the process, but here it is important to clearly monitor the temperature - 45-50 degrees for the first 3-4 hours of the process and about 80 degrees for final drying. It is also necessary to give a “rest” to the product: arrange four to five hour breaks for the plums to cool completely. The easiest drying method for a cook is to use a special dryer. Thanks to uniform ventilation, it is not necessary to turn the fruit over and constantly monitor the heating of the containers.

How to dry prunes: preparing plums for processing

Regardless of how the hostess plans to dry prunes, certain rules should be followed for choosing and preparing fruits for the drying process.

So, the use of rotten, frozen or wormy fruits is unacceptable.

If the fruits are large enough, it is better to remove the stone from them either by incision or with the help of a special device.

It is desirable to dry especially large plums in the form of separate pieces. For drying, fleshy varieties are selected.

To speed up the process, you can pre-blanch the fruits in a boiling soda solution - 15 g per liter of water for 20-30 seconds, after which the plums are immediately washed with cold water. The result will be a fine mesh of cracks through which moisture will evaporate faster during drying. Before unfolding for drying, the fruit must be dried.

Little subtleties: how to dry prunes in the oven to a shine

If, by the end of drying, the temperature in the oven is raised to over 100 degrees Celsius for a few minutes, the plums will release sugar. Its caramelization will give the surface of dried fruits a shiny appearance and improve the further preservation of the product. This operation requires careful control: prolonged high heat will damage the fruit.

Correctly make prunes at home - this means providing yourself with a large amount of vitamins for the whole winter. Prunes are not only a delicious product, they are also incredibly beneficial for our health. But its usefulness is questionable when you buy it at the store, where it looks like it's artificial. It is clear that dried fruit rubbed with all kinds of nitrates and glycerin beckons to buy it, but you can just as well gnaw on a plastic toy sprinkled with sugar. It would be best if you make prunes yourself, at home. This guarantees you that in the end you will get a healthy and natural product.

The benefits of prunes are undeniable: it contains a large set of B vitamins, as well as A, C, PP and E. In addition, these products contain a large number of iron, potassium, calcium, sodium and many other trace elements.

A very interesting fact is that prunes practically do not lose those beneficial properties that plums had. And storing such dried fruits is very simple and they slowly deteriorate.

If you include prunes in your daily diet, your gastrointestinal tract will be happy, because in This product contains substances that help improve the absorption of useful elements and normalize the digestive system.

Prunes are very often included in the menu of many popular diets, as they can quickly and easily saturate the body, while providing it with a minimum set of calories. That is why this product will be especially useful for those who carefully monitor their figure.

This dried fruit has quite strong antiseptic and antibacterial properties: with its help, you can help the body cope with viruses and pathogenic bacteria that penetrate it and develop diseases. Prunes help the immune system fight harmful substances that come to us from the external environment. With the help of this, you can protect your body, it will be especially useful in the winter season, when all kinds of viruses strive to stick to a person.

The use of prunes is not recommended for those who are prone to obesity and have diabetes. Pregnant and lactating women should also use this product with caution. Otherwise, prunes cannot cause serious harm if they are not abused.

Making prunes

In order to properly and usefully make prunes at home, first you need to select the fruits that will be processed. For prunes, the most ripe plums are perfect, you can even slightly overripe. But by no means rotten! The collected fruits must be thoroughly washed so that there is no indigestion, and the seeds must be removed. You don't have to, but eating prunes whole without picking out the pits is much more enjoyable. Then you need to take 10 liters of water, bring to a boil and dissolve 100 grams of soda. After that, using a colander, dip the plums into this solution, and after 30 seconds, take it out.

Now rinse the plums with warm water, and then they must be dried. This must be done using the oven. We heat it up to a temperature of 50 degrees, after which we take a baking sheet and put our fruits on it. Then we send them to the oven and wait about three hours. After that, remove the plums from the oven, let them cool and mix well.

When the plums have cooled, turn on the oven again, only this time it will need to be heated to a temperature of 70 degrees. We again send the plums to dry and go about our business for about five hours.

We take out the plums again, cool, mix, and return to the oven, which has already been heated to 90 degrees. We are waiting for four hours, we take out a baking sheet with ready-made prunes from the oven, let it cool and enjoy the unsurpassed taste.

You need to store prunes in a dry, dark place, after decomposing them into bags. And if you want to make it look glossy, then at the last stage of drying the drain, about 10 minutes before the end of the process, increase the temperature in the oven to 120 degrees. In this case, the plums will release juice, which, under the influence of temperature, will turn into caramel, cover your prunes and give them a very beautiful look.

Prunes lovers prefer to prepare this healthy and tasty product on their own. They know that on the shelves of stores, even dried fruits that are appetizing in appearance may turn out to be of low quality: under-dried or processed with chemicals. How to dry plums at home?

Training

To make prunes tasty and healthy, follow these rules.

For future dried fruits, choose only ripe fruits. Make sure that they are not damaged or rotten.
Give preference to plum varieties such as Hungarian or Renklod. They are more meaty and juicy. However, if these varieties are not on sale, use any other.
Free the selected plums from the stalk and leaves, rinse and dry thoroughly.
Cut large fruits in half, small ones can be dried whole. To remove the pit, make an incision along one side and turn the halves in opposite directions. On one of the parts there will be a bone, which will not be difficult to remove.

After the preparation is left behind, you can start choosing a drying method.

In the oven

blanching

Before drying plums, they need to be blanched.

Pour water into a saucepan, bring it to a boil.
Add 2 tsp. soda and prepared fruits.
Boil for 1-2 minutes, drain in a colander and rinse well under running water.

After blanching, cracks will appear on the surface of the plum, through which moisture will subsequently evaporate. The fruits cut in half do not need to be blanched.

Drying

Drying in the oven takes place in several stages.

Stage 1

Arrange the plums on a baking sheet.
Put it in an oven preheated to +50 ° C for 4-5 hours.
After the specified period, remove the dried fruits and let them cool.

Stage 2

Preheat oven to +70°C.
Dry the blanks again for 4-5 hours.
Remove from the cabinet, cool, turn the plums over on the other side and send to dry at a temperature of +75 ... +80 ° С.

In an electric dryer

Fruit preparation also begins with blanching. Then spread the fruits on the sheet in one layer. Plums, divided in half, lay cut side up.

first 3–4 hours at a temperature of +45 ... +55 ° С,
then increase the temperature to +60 ° C and sweat the fruits for another 3-6 hours.
At the final stage, dry the fruits at a temperature of +75 ... +80 ° C for about 4-6 hours.

Be sure to swap pallets every hour. At the end of each stage, remove the future prunes from the dryer and let it cool at room temperature.

in the microwave

If you are looking for a faster way, use the microwave. However, remember that in this case you need to be especially careful not to overdry the plums and turn them into coals.

Arrange prepared fruits on a plate.
Turn on the oven for 1-2 minutes. The optimum power for drying is set to +250 ... +300 °С.
Take out dried plums and let them cool.
Place the blanks in the microwave again and turn on for 10-20 seconds. Do not go far and constantly monitor the condition of the fruit.
Repeat the process until completely dry. You can determine the readiness of prunes by touch. It is soft and elastic, but does not release juice when pressed.

In the sun

Lay the fruit cut in half on a wooden surface with the cut side up. Make sure they don't touch. To protect fruits from annoying insects, cover them with gauze on top.

The most favorable weather for drying is sunny, clear and hot. Under such conditions, prunes will be ready in 4-5 days. Do not forget to put the workpieces into the house at night, as they can become damp under the influence of dew.

During the drying process, turn the fruits over from time to time to dry evenly. At the end of the process, do not immediately remove the prunes in storage containers, let them stand for another 3-4 days in the shade.

Many people dream of having a large amount of dried fruits in their storerooms, which have many beneficial properties for the human body. Dried fruits are a delicacy that came to Russia from the East, which is why it is so amazing and appetizing. Prunes are a wonderful berry that will help a person lose weight or fight various heart diseases. It has a pleasant smell and is very popular with children.

Preparing plums for drying

To cook such an appetizing and healthy prunes, you must first sort through the plums, choosing only only large berries. It is worth making sure that they are not soft, overripe. If such berries are caught, then juice will soon begin to flow from them. Then high-quality prunes will not work.

Usually, berries of approximately the same size are chosen for drying prunes. All berries that have been selected for drying are washed well, and their tails are removed. They must pass and blanching process. To do this, they must be placed for several minutes in a colander and in boiling water, to which a little soda was previously added.

This process will get rid of the wax coating.

The recipe is plum processing very simple: one liter of boiling water requires one tablespoon of soda. Keep the berry in the water usually no more than 30 seconds. After that, it is thoroughly doused with cold running water, and spread on a dry towel, allowing the berries to dry. If this procedure was done correctly, then there will be cracks on the surface of the drains through which moisture will be removed.

How to dry a plum in an electric dryer

You can dry the plum both with bone and without it. If it is large, then it is better to cut it in half and, accordingly, the bone will have to be removed. So the berries will dry much faster, and most importantly, they will not rot. The plum drying process itself consists of several stages:

Sort and wash the plum.
Blanch the berries.
Divide the plums into those with pits and those without them.
Seedless berries must be placed cut side up.

It is necessary to dry plums in an electric dryer at a temperature no more than 40 degrees. First, they are placed in an electric dryer for 6 hours, and then they are cooled for the same amount. This will be the first stage of drying. On the next one, it is necessary to raise the temperature in the electric dryer to 60 degrees, but it is also necessary to dry and cool for 6 hours. And at the third stage, the temperature in the electric dryer should be at least 80 degrees. Drying and cooling times remain the same. You can check the fruits for readiness.

Ready prunes will differ from the original plums in that they will become elastic, elastic dried evenly. It is worth examining the berries well: juice should not flow out of them.

Drying plums in the oven

One of the easiest ways to prepare prunes is to dry the plums in the oven. The rules and stages of its preparation remain the same: you need to wash and sort the berries, their blanching and drying are obligatory. During drying in the oven, it is worth making sure that there is a certain temperature regime and you need to monitor the time the berries stay in the oven and then cool down.

Plums should be dried in the oven no more than 4 hours, but it needs to cool down for about 6-8 hours. As soon as this time is over, place it in the oven again, preheating it to 80 degrees. In this temperature regime, it should dry for 6 hours, and then you need to leave it to cool for 3 hours. And again, we heat the oven to 100 degrees, put the plum there and hold for 30 minutes. Prunes are ready! The berries will shine. It remains only to place them in some kind of container with a tight lid.

Cooking prunes in the sun at home

The most natural way to dry plums at home is to place them under direct sunlight. If you have your own house that allows you to spread the berries in the yard, then this is the best option for making prunes. This will require some kind of cardboard sheet where the plums will fit. The preparation steps are simple:

The drain must be carefully prepared for drying: washed and sorted out.
Sun-drying plums should not be dried whole, so cut them open and remove the pit.
Spread them out on a sheet of cardboard in one layer and place them in a sunny place.

It is worth remembering that at night or in cool rainy weather, the plum must be removed, otherwise the berries will become damp. And then high-quality prunes, which would be stored for a long time, will no longer work. From time to time you need plums turn over otherwise the berries will not dry evenly. So, in the sunlight they should be kept for about a week.

Verify, is the prunes ready, you can use a simple old method: squeeze one of the berries.

If juice does not stand out from it, and the berry itself is elastic, then everything is done correctly and the prunes are ready. So that flies and other insects do not interfere during drying, it is recommended to cover them with gauze.

Preparing prunes in the microwave

Drying plums in the microwave is considered the fastest way cooking prunes at home. The berry dries quickly, but all its useful properties remain. Such drying is carried out in several stages:

Wash the plum, dry on a towel.
Arrange on a microwave dish.
Set the microwave timer for 30 seconds, and make the power 250 watts.
Put the resulting dried fruits on paper and let cool.

Drying plums in air fryer

Even with the help of an air grill at home, you can cook delicious and sweet prunes that will delight all family members in the winter. This method of preparing prunes is interesting in that the final product has slight smokey smell. But the disadvantage is that it usually turns out less than it was originally. For example, from 1 kilogram of plums you get only 200 grams.

But on the other hand, prunes cooked in an air grill have not only a pleasant appearance, but also appetizing aroma. The stages of preparing prunes are practically the same as how it is prepared in other ways. Also, the plum must first be thoroughly washed and sorted out. In an air grill, berries can be dried both small and large, with and without a stone.

Dry the plum in the air grill should be at a temperature of 65 degrees for forty minutes, and then you need to leave it for an hour so that the berry can cool. This process will need to be repeated two more times and left to cool until the next day. On the second day, this drying process is repeated three times and the time between them is approximately 60 minutes. It remains only to spread the dried berries on paper and leave them until the next day. Prunes are ready, it can be collected in bags or wooden boxes, where it will be perfectly stored.

How to dry pitted plums

Prunes can be either pitted or with them. Delicious pitted prunes can be obtained by following these recommendations:

Wash.
Divide them in half and remove the pit.
Pour a mixture of water and citric acid into a saucepan.
Bring this lemon mixture to a boil.
Blanch plums in this lemon solution for 40 minutes.

Such preparation will give prunes softness and tenderness.

Prunes are very good for human health. It is recommended to eat at least 5 of them per day, as this will have a positive effect on the work of the stomach. Prunes are also good for the heart, helping to restore its work.