How can you dry walnuts using a dryer and oven?

Purchasing ready-made nuts may result in failure, after which you will no longer want to consume the tasty and healthy product. To prevent this from happening, there is nothing left to do but dry the walnuts yourself. This is not as difficult as it seems, and the result of correctly carried out manipulations will be the receipt of an ingredient of the required quality.

The easiest way for owners of summer cottages where unpretentious trees are planted is to dry nuts directly in the shell. If you have to purchase products, then it is better to prepare them in a purified form, this will reduce the risk of a large number of defects.

How and when to collect walnuts so that they are suitable for drying?

Even home-grown fruits can disappoint if you do not follow the harvesting rules:

1. First of all, you need to collect the fruits that have fallen from the branches on your own. You should not delay this; prolonged exposure to damp soil leads to the appearance of dampness inside the core and mold.
2. After the first harvest, you can lightly shake the branches. Only already ripe nuts will crumble from such exposure.
3. Walnuts are considered ripe if the green skin on the shell has broken. A solid shell indicates that the product is still green, even if it is lying on the ground.
4. The fruits covering the lower branches of the tree ripen first. If the nuts from the top have already begun to fall off, then all the nuts from the lower branches can be collected manually.

Before drying walnuts, they need to be peeled. It's messy, tedious and difficult, but necessary. The manipulation must be performed with gloves. Then we immediately proceed to one of the drying methods.

How to properly dry walnuts in the fresh air?

This is the best option for a bountiful harvest, which can take the form of one of the following approaches:

• In the fresh air. A tarpaulin or other waterproof fabric is spread on the ground. Pour the pieces on top and distribute them in an even layer. It will take several days to dry the fruits. After sunset, the structure must be removed indoors, otherwise dew will spoil the workpieces.
• In room. It should be warm, dry, with good ventilation. With this approach, the products are first cleaned, washed in cold water, dried and sorted by size. Then we lay out the fruits on stands, preferably on racks.

As a last resort, the food can simply be laid out on newspaper in one of the rooms of the apartment. But they will have to be turned over regularly to ensure even processing.

Features of drying nuts using a dryer and oven

If you have a special dryer, the process of preparing walnuts at home is significantly simplified. You just need to strictly follow the instructions on the device and monitor the degree of readiness of the products.

Advice: The procedure will not take more than 5-6 hours, however, with a large volume of nuts, you will have to do several approaches, and ultimately the time savings will be minimal. Therefore, the dryer is best used on small volumes of product.

Larger batches of walnuts are easiest and fastest to dry in the oven. The manipulation consists of the following stages:

1. We clean the workpieces, remove the peel, rinse and dry with a towel. Then we sort the products and process them strictly according to size.
2. We lay out products from one batch on a baking sheet and place them in the oven, preheated to 40-45ºС. At this temperature, treatment is carried out for 2-3 hours. We always keep the cabinet door ajar so that moisture does not circulate in the closed space, but comes out.
3. About half an hour before the end of the period, we raise the temperature to 70ºC. Initially setting the oven to a high temperature is not recommended. Although the processing time will be shortened, the nut kernels will acquire an oily texture and an unpleasant aftertaste.
4. We check the degree of readiness of the nut by removing it from the shell. The edible part should easily break into pieces, but not crumble.

Having finished processing, we leave the nuts in the fresh air for another couple of hours so that the products “arrive”. Then we pack it into fabric bags and send it for storage. The shelf life of such a product is up to a year. The fruits can be stored much longer, but their taste will gradually deteriorate.

How are shelled walnut kernels dried?

We split the purchased nuts to extract the kernels, clean them of all films and dirt, but do not rinse them. If possible, we try not to break the products; they will last longer in their entire form. Next, we dry the product either on trays for 2-3 days, or in the oven at low temperature until the desired degree of readiness.

If during processing the ingredients begin to emit an unpleasant odor or acquire a rancid taste, it is better to throw them away. Such signs indicate a violation of the storage conditions of the product; consuming it is simply dangerous.

Cleaned products can be stored in canvas bags or sealed jars for no more than 3-4 months. The place should be dry and cool. If you need to extend the shelf life, then transfer the kernels into plastic bags and put them in the refrigerator.

Regardless of the type of processing and storage method, at least once a month the nuts need to be taken out, sorted and dried (you can use a radiator). This will prevent the appearance of mold and preserve the pleasant taste of the product for a long time.

Check out the article about how to peel a pumpkin