Drying berries is a great way to preserve your favorite fruits for the winter and a worthy alternative to freezing or canning. Dried berries do not have any chemical preservatives, which keeps them healthy, tasty and natural for many months. Scoop up a handful of dried berries, stir in your favorite yogurt, granola, muesli, or sprinkle on fruit salad. To enjoy these delicacies, the berries must be properly dried.
Instructions
Step 1
Blueberries, black currants, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and bird cherry are ideal for drying. Sort the berries and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Select only ripe, not too soft berries. Do not use fruits with spots, damage.
Step 2
To preserve the color of the berry, treat it in a special way before drying. There are several ways to do this:
1) 2 tbsp. Dissolve tablespoons of ascorbic acid in 1 liter of water, soak the berry in the solution for 10-15 minutes.
2) Boil honey syrup with 3 glasses of water and 1 glass of sugar. Heat and add 1 glass of honey. Mix well.
3) Juice the berries from a mixture of 1 liter of pineapple juice, 1 liter of warm water and ¼ glass of lemon juice.
In any of these mixtures, the berry should be soaked for a short amount of time. Do not rinse with water after handling.
Step 3
Pour the berries in one layer on a baking sheet, previously covered with two layers of gauze or a cotton towel. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees, leave the door open so that steam can escape from the oven. Check the berries periodically and turn them over. The fruits should be dry, not firm. It will take up to 10 hours of drying in this mode.
Step 4
You can dry berries as follows: Place them in large open pots and place them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated area, such as an attic. Stir once or twice a day for 10 days. The berries will dry in 2 weeks.
Step 5
If you are going to store the berries for a long time, you can pasteurize them to destroy all insect larvae. To do this, at the final stage of drying, freeze the berry for several days in the freezer or heat it up to 175 degrees in the oven for 10-15 minutes. These methods are also used for drying damp berries and dried fruits with bugs that have already appeared.
Step 6
Place dried berries in a tightly packed container, container or jar with a glass lid and store in a cool, dark place. Dried fruits can be stored in the refrigerator only in the summer and in a very sealed package, since it is too humid for them and dried fruits are able to absorb foreign aromas.
