Among other things dried apples delicious as independent dish and are an excellent ingredient for cooking various dishes and drinks, including kissels and even sweets. So, they are simply necessary to have in the home pantry, especially since they keep for a long time 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:
Each of these methods has its own benefits and advantages.
For example, the most fast in duration are drying in the microwave and aerogrill.
But they can dry a small amount of fruit at a time, so they are not very well suited in cases where you need to process several tens of kilograms of apples taken from your favorite garden in your summer cottage. In such a situation, it is better to use the oven. However, many housewives are concerned about questions: is it possible to dry apples in a gas oven And how to dry apples in the oven?
The answer is simple: of course you can. Moreover, fruits harvested in this way are obtained less "rubber" and better soak in the preparation of fillings for pies and compotes. That is, they taste better than apples dried in the “natural way” in the open air.
The only downside this option for drying apples and pears: from the long operation of the gas appliance, the air in the kitchen becomes heavy, so being in it is not very pleasant. But this shortcoming can be corrected by the usual high-quality ventilation.
Drying rules
How to dry apples at home in the oven? In order for dried fruits from apples to turn out fragrant, tasty and crunchy and had an attractive appearance correct is of great importance. 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 fairly firm, not watery, with a light yellow or white tint.
Best Options: "Antonovka", "Anise", "Pepin saffron", "Papirovka", "Aport", etc. Sweet apples are not well suited for this purpose, as they become tasteless after drying.
Before drying, the apples are sorted, sorted, and then washed under running water.
Each fruit is cleansed of peels and cores. Summer varieties of apples are best dried with the skin.
To prevent darkening of the pulp, peeled apples should be put in acidified water citric acid or vinegar.
Some housewives, before drying apples, expose them to blanching. However, after this treatment, useful substances and vitamins in such dried fruits is significantly reduced.
After thorough washing and cleaning, the fruits are cut into circles or slices with a thickness of 5 to 7 mm.
Step-by-step instruction
How to dry apples in the oven for the winter? After pre-training apples, you can start drying them.
Choosing the optimal mode. At what temperature do you dry apples in the oven? On the initial stage the oven should be turned on at 50-55 degrees. If you set a higher temperature, best case apples will quickly become covered with a crust, which will prevent further evaporation of the liquid from them, and at worst they will simply burn out, turning into black coals.
Determining the drying time. How long can apples dry in the oven? The total drying time is 6 to 8 hours. At the same time, two hours after the start of the procedure, the apples must be gently mixed, making sure that they remain on the baking sheet in an even layer.
Useful advice: In order for the liquid to drain faster, at the initial stage of drying, the oven door should be slightly ajar. Thanks to air circulation, dried fruits will not burn and will reach the desired state much faster.
We monitor the state of apples. What mode to dry apples in the oven? After the first stirring, the temperature in the oven must be raised to 70 degrees. Close the door completely. After the number of fruits on the baking sheet is reduced in volume by half, again reduce the temperature to 50 degrees.
Determine the readiness of dried fruits. After about 3-4 hours, the apples will be completely ready.
In order to verify this, you can bend one slice by picking it up. If it bends, and at the same time the hands remain clean, it means that dried fruits from apples have “reached the desired condition”.
If the slice breaks, the apples are overdried. However, you should not be too upset about this. Such fruits can be used for compotes.
You can visually determine the readiness of dried apples. They should have a light brown tint, but at the same time retain their flexibility and elasticity.
Ways
How to dry apples in the oven: on a baking sheet or on a wire rack? Drying apples in a gas stove oven can be done in two of these ways.
On a baking sheet
How to dry apples in the oven on a baking sheet? To do this, lay a baking sheet parchment paper and carefully spread on it the fruits, cut accordingly.
So that the apples do not burn, they need to be periodically shake. When using several trays, they need to be swapped from time to time.
On the grid
How to dry apples in the oven on a wire rack? This method has several benefits compared to the previous one:
- firstly, when drying on a wire rack apple slices dry more evenly at both sides;
- secondly, the process itself will take less time.
paper with this method of drying, it is not necessary to use.
How to reduce time?
Despite the fact that cooking dried fruits from apples in the oven, at first glance, may seem like a very simple procedure, this method has several serious shortcomings.
These include:
- Need careful control over the state of the fruit throughout the entire period of their drying.
- Duration this process.
For this reason, many housewives are thinking about how to 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 are boiled in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, after which cool down 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 the ferry 10 minutes and their subsequent cooling in cold water.
convection function
How to dry apples in a gas stove oven with convection (fan)? Subject to the use of modern gas ovens equipped with convection function, the process of drying apples becomes simpler and more productive. In this case, the preparation of dried fruits takes less time.
In order to start drying, prepared apples need to be laid out on a wire rack or baking sheet and placed in to the middle level into the oven with the convection mode (hot air blown) turned on, setting the temperature 40 degrees. After an hour and a half, it can be increased up to 75-80 degrees, and then, when the volume of apples decreases by about half, again lower to 40 degrees.
The oven door should be slightly ajar.
The total duration of the process: 6 to 7 hours. Apples can be dried continuously, for example, by leaving them overnight, but it is preferable, for a higher quality product, through every three hours take 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 rewarding experience. Every hostess has their own recipes
preparation of 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 (optional quantity);
- granulated sugar (to taste);
- water.
How to do? Cooking:
- From washed apples remove the cores along with the seeds. If you want the rings to turn out beautiful and neat, for this it is better to use a special device that you can buy at the store.
- Cut peeled fruits thin slices, making sure that their thickness is the same and does not exceed 5-7 mm. Place them in a bowl or other suitable container.
- From water and sugar boil syrup boil water and add granulated sugar to taste. Cool it down to room temperature.
- Pour the syrup over the apples so that it covers them completely. Leave in a cool place for a day.
- Thereafter take the slices out of the syrup and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or wire rack.
- Send apples to the oven and dry them at a temperature of about 60 degrees turning over from time to time. They will be ready in about 6-8 hours.
Then they take them out and put them in paper bags, glass jars or canvas bags for storage.
If desired, these apple slices can be served as independent dish by sprinkling them powdered sugar or cinnamon.
In a word, in order to during the cold season to add to yourself a “portion of health and vigor”, you must definitely make sure that dried apples are stored in the home pantry, which have a huge nutritional value and health benefits.
They can be eaten as a separate treat, used as a snack, prepared from them compotes, infusions and fillings for pies, as well as delicious and healthy sweets and even cakes.
Dried apples in the oven with rings - photo:
The main thing is that in order for the dried fruits to turn out tasty and beautiful in the end, choose the “right” varieties of apples for their preparation and clearly follow technologies for their preparation. As a result you will get valuable and quality product which is sure to please all your family and friends.
Fashion on healthy eating is becoming widespread, and this cannot but rejoice. Surely you and your friends are ready to replace some of the usual, but not very healthy meals for something easier. Even fast food becomes better: dried fruits instead of chips, nuts instead of sweets, yogurt instead of lemonade. As for the younger generation, it is much more difficult to persuade children, and especially teenagers, to do this. Their priorities, including food, are in a completely different coordinate system. But that doesn't mean you can't offer your child useful alternative store snacks. And although today you can buy dried fruits in any supermarket, we invite you to learn how to dry apples in the oven yourself.
Such blanks are well known to older housewives, while the younger generation prefers to save time and buy ready-made dried fruits. There is a reason for this if your life schedule is really very tight. Then in itself the choice of an apple instead of a cake is already commendable. For everyone else, it’s better to spend a little time in the kitchen and cook apple dryers yourself. So you can be sure of the quality of raw materials and the benefits of finished product. Moreover, there is nothing complicated in this and the whole process takes place almost without your participation. Having properly prepared the raw materials, you will only have to wait for the readiness of dried fruits.
If you have a choice, give preference to sour varieties of apples. According to experienced housewives, they are more amenable to drying and, as a result, they turn out to be tastier. Fiber structure different varieties also plays a role. This does not mean that red sweet apples are not suitable for us! You can even mix several varieties, the main thing is to wash all the apples thoroughly and wipe them dry with a towel. Remove tails immediately.
Let's move on to slicing apples. It comes in at least two types and ultimately affects only the shape and appearance. fruit chips. So:
- If you like round pieces with a hole in the middle, carefully remove the core from whole apples. The easiest way to do this is with special device in the form of a metal tube with a sharp edge. You can buy it at any hardware store, or you can get by with a knife with a thin blade. In the second case, the cutting may turn out to be less beautiful.
- Fans of the "old school" are more pleasant to feast on dried fruits in the form of slices. They can cut the apple in half, then cut each half into wedges. The thickness of the plates is determined empirically, but for the first time try to achieve an average thickness: 0.5 cm will be enough. It is better to get rid of the seed pods at this stage, so that later you do not spit out the apple seeds in the compote.
Step-by-step instructions for drying apples in the oven
- Set the electric oven to 60-70 degrees, turn on the low heat in the gas oven.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the apple slices evenly on it in a single layer. If the dimensions of the oven allow, you can dry the apples on two baking sheets at the same time, but in this case you will have to swap them a couple of times.
- Instead of a baking sheet, you can use a thick wire rack - on it, fruit slices will dry faster on both sides. Paper is not needed when using the grid.
- Do not close the oven door tightly so that air can circulate inside during the entire process.
- After 2-3 hours, turn off the heat and check the condition of the apples. You may need to stir them if they dry unevenly. At the same time, swap the top and bottom pans.
- Drying will take 6 to 8 hours. Determine the exact moment of its end to your taste: elastic slices or crispy.
- Due to the significantly reduced moisture content of the product, apple chips are not picky in storage: you can put them in a plastic (preferably paper) bag, a cloth bag or a glass jar.
Superior Dried Fruits
So, pour apples cut into slices or slices into a saucepan. There is no need for special accuracy here, the main thing is that everyone fits. Boil water with sugar in the second pan, that is, prepare the classic sugar syrup. Pour the hot syrup over the apples so that the liquid covers them completely. You do not need to boil fruits in syrup, just leave them to cool completely.
It will take about a day, after which you take the preparations of dried fruits from the syrup with a spoon and spread them evenly on a wire rack or baking sheet. Further, the process is no different from the previous one. basic recipe. In the same way, turn the apples over from time to time and monitor the temperature. After about 6 hours, keep an eye on the readiness so as not to overcook and get the desired condition.
We really hope that after such detailed recommendations your blanks will turn out well. With all the ease of preparation, they really help out in the household, on trips, and just in the daily bustle. Dried apples store well and take up relatively little space. When planning drying, keep in mind that out of 10 kg fresh fruit you will get about 1 kg dried. At the same time, all minerals, pectins, fiber will remain in place - they will simply take a much more concentrated form. Apple chips perfectly replace both popcorn and cookies - and there are incomparably more benefits in them. Do not persuade your household - just next time, instead of sweets, put a plate of dried apples in front of the TV.
During the ripening season of apples in orchards and orchards, many cannot cope with the huge volume of harvesting. In addition to juices, compotes, jams and jams that are made from apples, there is another very good way processing and harvesting apples for the winter is drying apples. The method has long been known to all. Always dried apples. But the drying process itself used to be not so technologically advanced, it was carried out simply in the open air in a shaded place. This method had its drawbacks: in the open air, the apples dried for a long time, darkened and acquired a not very beautiful appearance.
Today, we have modern household appliances that allow you to dry apples quickly. I mean both special dryers, aerogrills, and electric ovens with a fan that have a "convection" mode. From a physical point of view, convection is the movement of air. In the convection mode, you can easily and quickly dry apples and cook compote from them all winter. Or you can just chew when you are hungry, taking a small bag of sweet and sour dried fruits with you to work, study or for a walk. When there is no opportunity to fully eat, it is better to satisfy your hunger with dried apples than crackers, chips or sweets. Oven-dried apples are perfectly stored all winter, keeping in their pulp useful trace elements and vitamins.
Recipe Information
Cooking method: drying in the oven .
Total cooking time: 16 h
Ingredients:
- juicy, hard apples - 10 liter bucket
Recipe
Note to the owner:
- Dried apples render positive influence on the cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, lymphatic systems. They are useful for strengthening hair, nails, vision; improve the appearance of the skin, strengthen the immune system, saturating the body with vitamins and microelements.
This method of harvesting apples allows you to save a variety of vitamins and minerals, which are abundant in a fresh product. Dried fruits are tasty, have a pleasant delicate sourness, successfully diversify winter menu. To provide a family with useful natural product worth a look step by step photos.
How to dry apples in the oven
Formerly apples dried under the rays of the sun, constantly turning over, saving from rain and insects. Modern household appliances offer less troublesome ways: you can use a microwave, air grill, even a battery radiator. Excellent drying will be obtained when using the oven. Electric is preferable to gas, because it gives a stable, even heating. How to make drying of apples in the oven in order to eat delicious and, importantly, beautiful dried fruits that retain useful minerals, fiber, pectins?
Temperature for drying apples in the oven
Drying in an electric oven requires the selection of quality, ripe, intact fruit. It is best to opt for autumn varieties, sweet and sour. It is necessary to cut the fruits so that the thickness of the slices is the same - no more than a centimeter. It is supposed to be laid out in one layer (see photo). If cut ahead of time, the pieces will darken quickly. To prevent this from happening, they need to fill cold water with salt or citric acid. You can blanch the slices in advance or warm them over steam using a colander, and then dry them.
It is necessary to vary the temperature of drying apples in the oven. If you plan to complete cooking in 6-8 hours, you must first set 45-50 degrees. After a couple of hours, you need to increase the heating to 65-70 ° C, and half an hour before the completion of the process, you should again reduce it to 50 ° C. However, there are other tips on how to prepare drying: heat a baking sheet with pieces of fruit for 1 hour at 60 degrees to dry them, then raise the temperature to 70 ° C, and in the end make the fire stronger - up to 80-100 ° C. Every hour, mix the pieces, and do not close the door of the electric oven tightly.
How long to dry apples in the oven
The fruits, laid out in an even layer, take 6-8 hours to dry. Drying apples in an electric oven can be prepared immediately on two or three metal sheets. A dense lattice is perfect - the slices will be elastic, unbreakable. To understand how long it takes to dry apples in the oven, you need to correctly assess the degree of humidity original product. The interior space of the oven will be filled with steam, it is necessary to turn the pieces over so that it comes out. Then you need to lay it out on a dry cloth finished drying so that it dries completely.
Drying apples in the oven at home
This is an easy process - drying apples in the oven, but it takes time. The fruits must be washed, if there is a desire - peel the skin, cut into slices or circles, after removing the core, spread out on a baking sheet covered with paper. You need to constantly monitor the process, you can close the door at the end, when the moisture has evaporated. Turn the pieces every 40-50 minutes to dry evenly so that they do not thin out to a crust, do not burn. The temperature should be low, as the water evaporates, you can increase it to 80 ° C.
Drying apples in an electric convection oven
- Preheat the oven, put the baking sheets with slices.
- In an hour and a half fruit pieces turn over. Set the temperature at around 70-80 ° C.
- Reduce heat when excess water has evaporated. In this mode (50 degrees) keep 2 hours.
- Cooking lasts 3-6 hours, it depends on the initial moisture content of the fruit.
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, then you can make homemade preparations for the winter. This delicacy is a storehouse of vitamins, it can be a useful substitute for sweets. Such dried fruits can be used for cooking fragrant compotes and jelly, and they will also serve as a filling for home baking. At the same time, you can dry apples in the microwave, using an oven or a special electric dryer, as well as in the "grandmother's" way, spreading out in the sun. It all depends on your capabilities and the amount of raw materials.
Choosing fruits for the preparation of dried fruits
Before you start drying, you need to choose the right fruit. 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, summer varieties should not be chosen for drying, as they are more tender and loose, therefore they can crumble. Very sweet fruits will not work either - they will lose their taste after drying and will be too bland.
To make dried apples tasty and fragrant, when choosing them, you should be guided by the following:
- sour or sour-sweet autumn varieties, such as Antonovka or Aport, are well suited for drying;
- 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, they are easier to dry;
- more juicy fruits will be softer as a result, as a lot of water evaporates during drying, and they will be stored longer.
Of course, at home, you can dry any apples, especially if you have a good harvest that should be saved. In this case, they should be divided into varieties and dried separately, due to the fact that cooking times may vary.
We prepare 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, then it is better to soak them for a while in water. After that, they should be thoroughly rinsed in running cold water, and then allowed to dry or wipe 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 the 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 pastries.
- Method 2
Another option for cutting fruits will be circles - they look more beautiful and can be used as an independent fruit dessert. To get even and thin plates, you need to remove the core with a special tool or a round metal tube. Thereafter sharp knife cut the apple into “bagels” and send 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 saline solution, prepared at the rate of 1 tablespoon per liter of water. To avoid the formation of "rust", the slices can be sprinkled lemon juice or dip in water with the addition of citric acid.
You can make white dessert dried fruits at home, which will be a great alternative to sweets. To do this, chopped fruits are soaked for a day in sugar syrup and then dried in an 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 sour apples, only then the syrup should not be too saturated. They are white, soft with a candied crust, but compared to ordinary dried fruits, they are not stored for long.
Drying is not the most economical way of harvesting - from one kilogram of raw materials you will get up to one hundred and fifty grams of the finished product. However, if there are a lot of fruits, then this preservation option is perhaps the only one. From long-term storage apples not only spoil, but also lose 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 such a process takes a lot of time. For this, both an electric stove and gas oven. However, everything happens faster in an electrical cabinet, especially if it is equipped with a convection function. In addition, many gas ovens cannot be adjusted in temperature, and they warm up unevenly, which makes it difficult to cook dried fruit at home.
In whatever oven dried fruits are cooked, certain rules should be followed and temperature regime so they don't get dry and brittle.
- First you need to turn on the oven for the most low temperature and warm it up. We turn on the gas oven up to fifty degrees, for the electric one, the temperature is 60 degrees.
- While the oven is heating, lay the prepared fruit on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Do not put them tightly to each other, otherwise they may stick together. You can dry apples on two levels at the same time, but then during the cooking process they will need to be swapped several times. It should be remembered that the thinner the sliced \u200b\u200bpieces, the faster they will cook, but there is a high probability of their strong shrinkage, 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 preparation of dried fruits will take less time and be more even. It should be prepared in the same way as in the other case, covering it with paper.
- We put the apples in the oven and dry them for 5 to 8 hours, while keeping the oven door slightly open. This is necessary so that excess moisture evaporates, and does not settle again on the fruit. If the oven is ventilated, then the drying process will be halved, and the oven does not need to be opened.
- While dried fruits are cooking, they are periodically shaken and mixed to avoid sticking and burning. So, on the upper level, the slices are cooked quickly, because there is a stronger heat.
- You can check the readiness of the fruit as follows: if the apple slices 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 should be extended.
When the dried fruits are cooked, they should be cooled and then put into dry glass jars. The best storage packaging would be paper bags, wooden boxes or linen bags. You need to remove them in a dark and cool, but not damp place. Dried apples prepared at home in this way can be stored for up to two years.
How to dry apples in a microwave and a special dryer?
You can shorten the cooking time and dry the apples in the microwave. This process takes only a few minutes, but they retain less vitamins. To make dried fruits in the microwave, they are prepared in the same way as for drying in the oven, after which they are laid out on a plate covered with one edge of the towel. The fruits are covered with the other side of the fabric and placed in the oven. There they are dried for about 4 minutes, setting the power to 200 watts. This method is suitable for harvesting a small amount products.
The most modern option for drying at home is the use of 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 the drying time. The biggest advantage of such an electric assistant is simplicity - it will do everything itself, you just need to set the desired program. The whole process will take about five hours, but at the same time, 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 shrinkage. However, many housewives believe that the use of such a device significantly increases energy consumption.
In order to save money and time, you can dry the apples in the sun, spreading them out on a tray. This method is the most inexpensive, but at the same time requires a lot of time and attention. So, you need to drive away insects from dryers, protect apples from excess moisture and dust.
Whatever harvesting method you choose, the main requirement is compliance with the cooking technology. Then dried fruits prepared at home will be tasty, fragrant, and most importantly - very healthy treat for households.
