How to properly dry apples in the oven?

Drying vegetables and fruits is one of the ancient ways of preserving them, which is still popular today. If, for example, you know how to dry apples in the oven so that all the vitamins and useful minerals remain in them, then you can make homemade preparations for the winter. This delicacy is a storehouse of vitamins and can be a useful substitute for sweets. Such dried fruits can be used to prepare aromatic compotes and jelly, and they can also serve as a filling for homemade baked goods. In this case, you can dry apples in the microwave, using an oven or a special electric dryer, as well as the “grandmother’s” way, laying them out in the sun. It all depends on your capabilities and the amount of raw materials.

Selecting fruits for making dried fruits

Before you start drying, you need to choose the right fruits. Apples differ from each other not only in color and taste, but also in density. So, medium-sized fruits with dense and hard pulp are suitable for harvesting. Also, you should not choose summer varieties for drying, since they are more delicate and loose, and therefore can crumble. Very sweet fruits are also not suitable - after drying, they will lose their taste and will be too bland.

To make dried apples tasty and aromatic, when choosing them you should be guided by the following:

sour or sweet and sour autumn varieties are well suited for drying, for example “Antonovka” or “Aport”;
the fruits must be ripe, whole and without rot;
if the fruit is slightly damaged, do not throw it away - such a place can be cut out and the rest sent for drying;
It is advisable to choose apples of the same size, then the slices will be the same and it will be easier to dry them;
juicier fruits will ultimately be softer, since a lot of water evaporates during drying, and they will be stored longer.

Of course, you can dry any apples at home, especially if you have had a good harvest that should be preserved. In this case, they should be separated by grade and dried separately due to the fact that cooking times may vary.

Preparing raw materials for further drying

Once suitable fruits have been selected, they must be properly prepared for further processing. First, the leaves and stalks are removed, and then the fruits must be washed well. If the apples are very dirty, it is better to soak them in water for a while. After this, they should be rinsed thoroughly in running cold water, and then allowed to dry or wiped dry with a clean towel.

For drying, apples can be cut in two ways.

Method 1

Cut them into slices. To do this, cut the apple in half and then chop it into slices. The thickness of the pieces should be the same, then they will dry evenly. Prepared in this way, they will last longer and are suitable for compotes or filling baked goods.

Method 2

Another option for cutting fruits would be circles - they look more beautiful and can be used as an independent fruit dessert. To get smooth and thin plates, you need to remove the core with a special tool or a round metal tube. After this, use a sharp knife to cut the apple into “bagels” and send it to dry.

Sliced apples darken very quickly, as they are rich in iron, which oxidizes in air. To avoid this, pieces of fruit are soaked for 10 minutes in a saline solution prepared at the rate of 1 tablespoon per liter of water. To avoid the formation of “rust”, the slices can be sprinkled with lemon juice or dipped in water with the addition of citric acid.

You can prepare white dessert dried fruits at home, which will be an excellent alternative to sweets. To do this, the chopped fruits are soaked in sugar syrup for a day, after which they are dried in the oven at a temperature of about 60 degrees for 6 hours. If the slices are large, the cooking time should be increased. This method is also suitable for very sour apples, only then the syrup should not be too rich. They turn out white, soft with a candied crust, but compared to ordinary dried fruits they do not last long.

Advice

Drying is not the most economical method of preparation - from one kilogram of raw materials you can get up to one hundred and fifty grams of the finished product. However, if there is a lot of fruit, then this preservation option is perhaps the only one. Long-term storage not only spoils apples, but also loses their usefulness.

Dried fruits from the oven, or how to properly dry apples?

To properly dry apples in the oven, you will need patience, as this process takes a lot of time. Both an electric stove and a gas oven are suitable for this. However, everything happens faster in the control cabinet, especially if it is equipped with a convection function.In addition, many gas stoves cannot be adjusted in temperature, and they heat up unevenly, which will complicate the procedure for preparing dried fruits at home.

No matter what oven you use to prepare dried fruits, you must adhere to certain rules and observe the temperature regime so that they do not turn out overdried and brittle.

First you need to turn on the oven to the lowest temperature and warm it up. We turn on the gas oven to fifty degrees; for an electric oven, a temperature of 60 degrees is suitable.
While the oven is heating, place the prepared fruit on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Do not place them tightly together, otherwise they may stick together. You can simultaneously dry apples on two levels, but then during the cooking process they will need to be swapped several times. It should be remembered that the thinner the slices, the faster they will cook, but there is a high probability of them shrinking greatly, which will lead to brittleness. Therefore, the ideal thickness of the slices can be considered five millimeters.
Instead of a baking sheet, you can use a wire rack, then the cooking of dried fruits will take less time and will be more uniform. It should be prepared in the same way as in the other case, covered with paper.
Place the apples in the oven and dry them for 5 to 8 hours, keeping the oven door slightly open. This is necessary so that excess moisture evaporates and does not settle back on the fruit. If the oven is ventilated, the drying process will be halved, and there is no need to open the oven.
While the dried fruits are cooking, shake and stir them periodically to prevent sticking and burning. So, on the upper level the slices cook quickly, since the heat is stronger there.
You can check the readiness of the fruit as follows: if the apple pieces do not stick to your hands, are elastic and bend well, then they can be removed from the oven. Some housewives prefer drier slices, then the cooking time must be extended.

When the dried fruits are cooked, they should be cooled and then placed in dry glass jars. The best packaging for storage would be paper bags, wooden boxes or linen bags. They need to be put in a dark and cool, but not damp place. In this way, dried apples prepared at home can be stored for up to two years.

How to dry apples in a microwave and a special dryer?

You can reduce the cooking time and dry the apples in the microwave. This process takes only a few minutes, but they retain fewer vitamins. To make dried fruits in the microwave, they are prepared in the same way as for drying in the oven, and then laid out on a plate covered with one edge of a towel. The other side of the cloth is covered with the fruit and placed in the oven. There they are dried for about 4 minutes, setting the power to 200 watts. This method is suitable for preparing small quantities of products.

The most modern option for drying at home is to use a special electric dryer. Such a device is inexpensive, but it will allow you to process a lot of raw materials without hassle and reduce drying time. The biggest advantage of such an electric assistant is its simplicity - it will do everything itself, you just need to set the desired program. The whole process will take about five hours, but the fruit slices do not need to be turned over or shaken, and besides, they will not burn and will be the desired degree of dryness.However, many housewives believe that using such a device significantly increases energy consumption.

To save money and time, you can dry the apples in the sun by placing them on a tray. This method is the most inexpensive, but at the same time it requires a lot of time and attention. So, you need to drive away insects from drying areas and protect apples from excess moisture and dust.

Whatever preparation method you choose, the main requirement is compliance with the cooking technology. Then dried fruits prepared at home will be tasty, aromatic, and most importantly, a very healthy treat for your household.