How to dry rose hips and still retain all the beneficial properties?

In order to maintain immunity and saturate the body with vitamins all year round, including in the cold winter, it is not necessary to take special medications, you just need to learn how to dry rose hips. This manipulation involves certain specifics, but is quite feasible at home.

Berries can be processed in an oven, a special electric dryer or in the fresh air. The result is a product that can withstand long-term storage. At the same time, in terms of the content of useful components, it will be in no way inferior to fresh rose hips. It is customary to prepare compotes, infusions, jams, decoctions from the universal preparation, or simply add it to tea.

How to properly prepare rose hips for drying?

Before drying rose hips, it is necessary to assemble and process it. It is recommended that you do this yourself, otherwise the result may not be what you expected.

Regardless of how the berries are dried for the winter, they need to be collected as follows:

1. For subsequent harvesting, it is better to choose slightly unripe, dense fruits that are bright orange or red in color, slightly sour and astringent in taste. They contain twice as many vitamins as the mature product, and they are preserved much better at home.
2. The optimal time for picking berries is from the end of August until the first frost.
3. After assembly, you need to immediately start drying the berries; storing rose hips for a long time without appropriate treatment is not recommended.
4. When collecting the product, it is recommended to give preference to large berries with sepals sticking out in different directions at the stalk.
5. Assembly and subsequent drying must be carried out together with the stalks; they contain a significant amount of vitamins and useful components.

Advice: You should not collect rose hips in close proximity to roads and industrial enterprises. It does not absorb harmful substances and will not cause any harm to health, but there will be no benefit from it either.

Temperature at which it is best to dry rose hips in the oven and electric dryer

The process of drying berries in an oven or electric dryer is not complicated; the main factor here is the temperature of exposure. Even a slight excess can lead to the destruction of all useful components, as a result of which rose hips will simply become a pleasant-tasting food additive.

To prevent this, you need to remember the following:

1. The temperature in the oven during processing should range from 45ºС to 60ºС.
2. Processing of fruits in a special dryer is carried out at temperatures from 40ºС to 70ºС.

If at home it is not possible to provide such parameters and or track them, then it is better not to risk it and use the option of conventional drying in the fresh air. It will take longer, but will not reduce the quality of the product.

How to properly dry rose hips in the oven?

This is the best option for a modern home equipped with appropriate appliances. To properly dry rose hips for the winter in the oven, you need to perform the following manipulations:

• We sort the berries, check them for quality, and throw away the bad fruits. Washing rose hips is strictly prohibited! The fruits will be processed efficiently even without this.
• Place the berries on a baking sheet, spreading them evenly over the surface in one layer. Place them in the oven, preheated to 45-50ºC.
• We keep the rose hips in the oven for about 8 hours, gradually increasing the processing temperature to 60ºC. At the same time, the cabinet door should be kept slightly open so that the moisture coming out of the berries does not linger in a small space. Occasionally shake off the baking sheet, but do not touch the fruits with a spoon or hands.

If all the manipulations were done correctly, then the rosehip harvested for the winter will only wrinkle, but will not change its color. Darkened berries indicate that the recommended temperature has been exceeded. They are just as healthy, but noticeably inferior in taste.

Features of drying rose hips in an electric dryer and in the fresh air

The procedure is further simplified if you have a special dryer at home - a dehydrator. The berries are also cleaned of debris, sorted, and sent to a functional device without wet processing. Drying can be carried out at a minimum temperature, then the process will take at least 9-12 hours. If you use the maximum parameters, drying will take no more than 6-8 hours, but there will be less benefit in such fruits. If the berries were dried correctly, they will break easily in your hands, but will not fall apart into crumbs.

As a last resort, at home you can use the traditional drying option, which involves avoiding high temperatures:

1. We sort the berries, slightly shorten the stalks.
2. We lay the fruits on plywood, a large tray or newspaper in one layer and place them in a dry and dark place. The effect of ultraviolet radiation is detrimental to the beneficial components of rose hips. An additional important factor is good ventilation of the room.
3. In such conditions, the berries will have to be kept for at least 2-4 weeks. Only then will they dry out evenly and be able to last the whole winter.
4. When the fruits begin to break apart easily, transfer them to a cardboard box with a lid and keep there, without opening, for at least another 4-5 days. This way the berries will get rid of any remaining moisture.

All that remains is to send the workpiece for storage and you can enjoy the healthy product all winter.

How to properly store rose hips dried for the winter?

You need to be able not only to dry rose hips correctly, but also to know in what conditions the preparations should be stored. The big mistake of many housewives is that they store fruits in glass or plastic jars with lids. In fact, at home it’s better to put them in canvas bags. As a last resort, use glass jars, but you need to close them with a cloth and tie them with a rope.

We advise you to read the article about how to dry hawthorn