How to store dried apricots at home correctly

Apricots have been cultivated since ancient times. The inhabitants of Byzantium endowed fruits with anti-aging properties, believed that they were able to slow down aging and increase life expectancy. They used berries fresh and dried, dried in the sun.

Fragrant jams and marmalade are cooked from the fruits of the stone fruit culture, compotes are closed for the winter, but during heat treatment, the fruits lose vitamins, minerals and organic acids that they are rich in. Not everyone knows how to store dried apricots at home so that insects do not start in the package.If you do not follow the rules for preparing berries and the drying process, the fruits will deteriorate.

Methods of drying fruit

In order to keep a maximum of trace elements and vitamins in apricots, which are so lacking in winter, the berries are sorted out and sent to a gas oven or a special dryer. In the southern regions, where it is hot and there are no clouds in the sky, the fruits dry out in the sun in 4 or 5 days.

Electric Grill

Companies from many countries produce various types of household appliances, a detailed annotation is attached to each device. Fruits dry evenly in the electric grill. Apricots are sorted, pitted, divided into 2 parts and laid out on a wire rack so that the cut halves do not stick together.

The berries are dried for three hours, setting the temperature within 50 ° C, after which they increase by another 10 degrees. The fruits darken during the drying process, they will not change color if, before being sent to the electric grill, they are dipped in a solution prepared from 5 g of citric acid or juice and a liter of water.Dried apricots after the liquid has drained. You can dry the berries well in 12 hours.

Gas oven

In the absence of special electrical appliances or a grill, both urban and rural residents can use a conventional stove in which a gas oven is built in, but you need to constantly monitor how fruits are dried by opening the door. The temperature in the oven must be at least 60 ° C, which is reduced only at the end of the process.

Dried berries are sweet and tasty if you fill them with sugar for a day in a ratio of 3 to 1:

The mass is transferred to a colander and left in it.
While the liquid drains, boil the syrup. To prepare such a product, water is used in an amount of 300 ml and 350 g of sugar.

Apricots are placed in the hot solution and boiled for up to 10 minutes. To cool the halves dry, leave in a colander.
Fruits are transferred to a baking sheet in the oven, where they are dried at 50 degrees for about three hours, at the end of the process the temperature is reduced to 35 ° C and dried for the same amount of time, repeatedly turning the apricots over.

Dried fruits should swell in water, do not release juice when pressed. Dried apricots are soft to the touch and do not crack when tapped.

Outdoor

If the weather is hot and clear, the berries are weathered for 4 hours, then laid out on a metal grill, which is placed in the sun. After 4 days, the fruits are transferred to the shade, where the apricots need to be dried until they turn orange.

To preserve more vitamins, the seeds are not pulled out of the fruits, the berries are dried under the hot rays of the sun for a week, then the apricots dry out in the shade.

Varieties of dried fruits and nuances of storage

Depending on how the berries are cut, whether they are used with stones or whole, there are several types of apricot drying technologies.

Dried apricots are obtained when the berries are cut in half or dried in quarters. This sweet product is rich in:

organic acids;
beta-carotene;
glucose;
vitamins;
fructose.

In dried fruits, iron, phosphorus, potassium are preserved. Central Asian varieties of apricots are dried in the sun. Dried apricots have a beautiful color, which is obtained when the fruits are exposed to sulfur dioxide treatment.

Apricot is dried with a bone. When using this product:

Digestion normalizes.
Pressure drops.
Improves vision.

Kaisa is of great benefit to the human body, which is obtained from uncut fruits that are dried in the air, but the skin of the berries remains intact, since the stone is squeezed out of them.

Dried apricots can be kept in the refrigerator. Dried apricots in a cool room do not spoil for six months. To store dried apricots, you can find a place in a city apartment and in the country.

Conditions for long-term storage

When harvesting any kind of product from apricots, you must follow a certain technology, otherwise the fruits quickly lose their useful properties. Dry fruits do not spoil for a long time at home, if you choose the right one:

storage space;
temperature regime;
packaging material.

Dried apricots can be kept both in the refrigerator and in the freezer. In order to enjoy apricots longer, they are placed in a closed cabinet, which stands on the balcony or in the pantry, but dried fruits should not be placed near radiators and stoves, washbasins and baths. Dried apricots are perfectly stored in the country, if you take the fruit to the attic.

The temperature in the apartment should not be 20 degrees, but at least 15, otherwise pests will start to multiply. Store dried apricots and dried apricots in a dark place, but in a separate package. Do not mix apricots with other fruits, they will lose their taste. It is desirable that the humidity does not exceed 65%.

Which container is suitable

Dried fruits should not be placed in plastic containers, because the aroma in such dishes quickly disappears, and the material attracts an unpleasant odor. Sun-dried apricots should not be stored in bags made of linen, they quickly become damp.

Don't put dried fruits in a plastic bag, the fruits become moldy, oxidize in a metal box.

And dried apricots, and apricots, and kaisa are well stored in a glass jar, they do not lose their smell or taste, but such containers should be hermetically sealed. You can place dried apricots in a ceramic container, provided the lid fits snugly. In a cardboard box or wooden box, dried fruits do not spoil for a month. The jar with a vacuum system does not infest insects, which greatly increases the shelf life of fruits.

When placing dried apricots in the freezer, wrap them in foil. If properly stored, dried apricots do not absorb the smell of other products, do not lose their aroma, and delight with a pleasant taste.

Pests and how to deal with them

If you put dried fruits in an unsuitable container, do not follow the storage regime, insects in the form of ticks, all kinds of bugs, and moths often start up. If such guests have already appeared, apricots are poured onto a baking sheet, put in the oven, heated at 75 degrees for about an hour.

You can protect dried fruits from insect invasion using one of 3 methods. Fruit storage containers must be treated with a bite diluted in the same amount of water. A bag of mint leaves is hung next to the apricots. Laundry soap helps to save dried berries from moths. Insects do not tolerate this smell, but in order for the fruit not to be saturated with such an aroma, they must be hermetically sealed.

Expiration date of dried apricot

How long apricots or dried apricots will be stored depends largely on the packaging in which the products are located, as well as on compliance with the temperature regime.

Dried apricots will not spoil all month if placed on a shelf or left on a table. In the dark, they do not lose their taste or smell for six months. However, you need to open the package with dried berries at least once every 4 weeks to check if mold has appeared, if there are moths.Having found a spoiled apricot, you will have to throw away the entire batch of drying. When an insect is detected:

Fruit freezes.
Place in boiling water for an hour.
Wash and dry.

Pests rarely breed in the refrigerator, dried fruits are stored for 10 to 12 months, it is better to pack apricots in small containers. If you put dried fruits in foil and leave them in the freezer, they will not deteriorate, will not lose their beneficial properties for up to 2 years.