ABOUT benefit Dried apples know a lot.
And today, in the age of the return of interest to a healthy lifestyle and nutrition they are gaining popularity again.
And, by the way, quite deservedly, because in the process of drying they preserve a large part vitamins and trace elements, so that this method of harvesting these fruits can be called optimal.
Among other things, dried apples are tasty as separate dish and are an excellent component for the preparation of various dishes and drinks, including compotes, jellies and even candy. So, they just need to have in the home pantry, especially since they are stored long enough, and you can cook them at home. How to dry apples in the oven for the winter?
general information
You can dry apples for your own consumption. in several ways. These include:
- Drying outdoors in the sun.
- In the microwave.
- In convection oven.
- In the oven.
Each of these methods has its own advantages and advantages.
For example, the most fast in duration are drying in the microwave and aerogrill.
But they can be dried small amount of fruit at one time, so that they are not very well suited in cases where you need to recycle a few dozen kilograms of apples taken from your favorite orchard at the dacha. In such a situation it is better to use the oven. However, many housewives are concerned about the questions: is it possible to dry the apples in the gas oven and how to dry the apples in the oven?
The answer is simple: of course you can. Moreover, the fruits harvested in this way are obtained less "rubber" and better soak when preparing fillings for pies and compotes. That is, they taste more pleasant than apples, dried in a "natural way", in the open air.
Drying rules
How to dry apples at home in the oven? In order to get dried fruit from apples fragrant, tasty and crispy and had an attractive appearance of great importance is the correct preparation of apples before drying. In this case, you should follow a few simple rules.
Best for drying winter, sour and sweet and sour varieties apples that do not have a tart taste. Their flesh should be sufficiently dense, not watery, with a light yellow or white shade.
Optimal options: "Antonovka", "Anis", "Pepin saffron", "Papirovka", "Aport", etc. Sweet apples are not well suited for this purpose, as they become tasteless after drying.
Before drying, apples are sorted, sorted, and then washed under running water.
Each fruit is cleared of peel and core. Summer varieties of apples are best dried with the skin.
To prevent darkening of the pulpPeeled apples should be put in water, acidified with citric acid or vinegar.
Some mistresses before drying apples subject them blanching. However, after such processing, the amount of nutrients and vitamins in such dried fruits is significantly reduced.
After thorough washing and cleaning, the fruit is cut into circles or slices from 5 to 7 mm thick.
Step-by-step instruction
How to dry apples in the oven for the winter? After pre-preparation of apples, you can start drying them.
Choose the optimal mode. At what temperature to dry the apples in the oven? At the initial stage, the oven should be turned on at 50-55 degrees. If you set a higher temperature, at best, the apples will quickly become covered with a crust, which will prevent further evaporation of liquid from them, and at worst they will simply burn into black coals.
Determine the drying time. How long can you dry the apples in the oven? The total drying time is from 6 to 8 hours. In this case, two hours after the start of the procedure, the apples should be gently mixed, ensuring that they remain lying on the baking sheet in a uniform layer.
We monitor the status of apples. What mode to dry the apples in the oven? After the first stirring, the temperature in the oven should be raised to 70 degrees. The door is completely closed. After the number of fruits on the baking sheet decreases in volume by half, again reduce the temperature to 50 degrees.
Determine the readiness of dried fruit. After about 3-4 hours the apples will be fully prepared.
In order to verify this, you can bend one slice, taking it in hand. If she bends, and her hands remain clean at the same time, it means that the dried fruits from apples "have reached the necessary condition."
If the lobule breaks - the apples are over dried. However, you should not get very upset about this. Such fruits can be used for compotes.
Determine the readiness of dried apples can be visually. They should have a light brown tint, but at the same time maintain their flexibility and elasticity.
Ways
How to dry apples in the oven: on the baking sheet or on the rack? Drying apples in the oven gas stove can be done in two of these ways.
On the baking sheet
How to dry apples in the oven on a baking sheet? To do this, make a baking sheet. parchment paper and gently spread on it the fruit, cut accordingly.
On the lattice
How to dry apples in the oven on the rack? This method has several advantages compared to the previous one:
- First, when drying on a lattice, apple slices will dry more evenly at both sides;
- secondly, the process itself will take less time.
Paper With this method of drying is not necessary to use.
How to reduce time?
Despite the fact that the preparation of dried fruits from apples in the oven, at first glance, may seem like a very simple procedure, this method has several serious deficiencies.
These include:
- Need close control over the condition of the fruit throughout the entire period of their drying.
- Duration this process.
For this reason, many housewives think about how you can reduce drying time apples in the oven. How to dry apples at home in the oven quickly? There is such a way. To do this, peeled and cut into slices apples boil down in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, after which cool under running cold water. After that, you can dry them in the oven.
The second option: keeping prepared apples on a sieve or colander over steam 10 minutes and their subsequent cooling in cold water.
Convection function
How to dry apples in the oven gas stove with convection (fan)? Subject to the use of modern gas ovens equipped with convection function, the process of drying apples becomes more simple and productive. In this case, the preparation of dried fruit takes less time.
In order to start drying, prepared apples should be spread out on a wire rack or baking sheet and placed to medium level in the oven with the convection mode turned on (hot air), setting the temperature 40 degrees. After an hour and a half, you can increase up to 75-80 degreesand then, when the volume of apples decreases by about half, again lower to 40 degrees.
The total duration of the process: from 6 to 7 hours. Apples can be dried in a continuous mode, for example, by leaving them overnight, but preferably, to obtain a higher quality product, through every three hours get them out of the oven for better evaporation of moisture.
Delicious recipes
Drying apples in the oven at home can turn into a pleasant and useful exercise. Each hostess has own recipes cooking dried fruits.
However, they will be most useful if they are dried in the oven without any additional additives.
But, they can be made even more delicious by using the following recipe.
"Apple Rings"
Ingredients:
- apples (quantity arbitrary);
- granulated sugar (to taste);
- water.
How to do? Cooking:
- From washed apples remove cores with seeds. If you want the rings to turn out beautiful and neat, for this it is better to use a special device that can be bought in the store.
- Peeled fruits cut thin slices, making sure that their thickness was the same and did not exceed 5-7 mm. Put them in a saucepan or other convenient container.
- From water and sugar cook syrupby boiling water and adding sugar to taste. Cool it to room temperature.
- Pour the syrup over the apples so that it covers them completely. Leave in a cool place for a day.
- Thereafter get slices of syrup and spread them out on a baking sheet, parchment paper or grill.
- Send apples to the oven and dry them at about 60 degreesturning over from time to time. They will finally be ready in about 6-8 hours.
Then they are taken out and laid out in paper bags, glass jars or canvas bags. for storage.
In a word, in order to in the cold season to add a “portion of health and vigor” to oneself, it is imperative to ensure that dried apples are in the home pantry, which have tremendous nutritional value and health benefits.
They can be eaten as a separate treat, used as a snack, cooked compotes, infusions and fillings for pies, and delicious and healthy sweets and even cakes.
Dried apples in the oven with ringlets - photo:
The main thing is that in order for dried fruits to turn out tasty and beautiful, choose the "right" apple varieties for their preparation and clearly follow technologies of their preparation. As a result, you will get valuable and quality productwhich will surely be to the taste of all your near and dear ones.
