Prunes are not only healthy, but also delicious dried fruit. It replenishes the body with carbohydrates and vitamins. Prunes are added to many dishes, as this fruit has a very pleasant aroma and taste. However, to use it in the kitchen, you need to properly dry the fruit. In some dishes, it is impossible to replace prunes. How to make it at home, read the article.
Useful properties of prunes
This fruit is popular and very healthy. Many housewives want, but do not know how to make prunes from plums. After all, it is necessary to use it for every person. It contains a lot of carbohydrates, fiber, pectin, organic acids and vitamins. Thanks to prunes, they support the gastrointestinal tract, increase hemoglobin and immunity.
Nutritionists advise it to use when losing weight. Prunes are a good laxative, so constipation is a great remedy. When a person has low or high blood pressure, the fruit normalizes it.
There is an opinion that, if you eat prunes with honey and nuts for breakfast in the morning, the efficiency for the whole day increases. Many chefs use it in dishes and drinks. It can be stewed fruit, juices, meat products. For example, many housewives fell in love with baked chicken with prunes . With the help of dried fruit, the dish is not only tasty, healthy, but also aromatic.
How to choose plums for drying
In order to cook prunes, you need to choose the right fruit. If you do not know how to make prunes from plums, you must first choose the right fruits. It is advisable to buy or grow solid and juicy fruits for such purposes. Ideal for drying varieties: cherry plum, Hungarian, greengage. However, there are many other varieties that are also suitable for drying.
Small fruits, such as cherry plum, can be dried whole. If the fruits are larger, it is advisable to cut them in half and stretch the bones out of them. Then the process will accelerate.
No matter how you dry the plums, they must be carefully sorted. Damaged or rotten fruit is best not to use. Choose fruits almost identical that they dried simultaneously.
If some plums remain raw, not only they will deteriorate, but also the finished ones. You can dry prunes in many ways. How to make it at home, read on.
How to dry plums in the sun
There is an opinion that this is the easiest and most common way. Not every housewife knows how to make prunes at home to make a real dried fruit. To prepare it, you will need:
- Gauze.
- Plums.
- Wooden sheets.
It is necessary to put plums on wooden sheets, cut in half. Lay out with the cut up. They should not lie very tightly - they will dry better. If you lay down the plums, the juice will flow out and the dried fruits will not be juicy.
Spread fruits only when hot sunny days. Cover them with gauze to hide fruit from insects. They should be in the sun for at least a week. At night, air humidity rises, so the fruits must be removed to the room.
In the process of drying the fruit several times a day must be turned over. Then they cook evenly. There is one drawback of such drying: gauze does not greatly save fruits from insects and their larvae. The method is effective, but only in hopeless situations. Many chefs recommend other methods.
Dry plums in the oven
Many housewives want to harvest prunes for the winter. How to make it at home, if there is no way to spread fruit in the sun? Then there is the second way, more effective, - the oven.
Flush the plums before drying. This is necessary so that small cracks appear. Moisture will evaporate faster, so that the fruit dries better. Blanch plums need no more than 3 minutes. Put 2 tsp in boiling water. soda, dissolve it and put in the fruit solution. Hold them for 2-3 minutes and remove. Now wipe the fruit with a towel and let it lie for 1 hour.
Such drying is carried out in several stages. Warm the oven to 60 degrees, place the fruits there for 5 hours. Then turn off the oven, let the plums cool. They must rest from the oven for at least 5 hours.
Then heat the oven to 70 degrees. Put the fruit for 6 hours. Now let it cool. At the last stage, heat the oven to 80 degrees and bring them to readiness. Now you know how to make prunes at home using an oven.
Dry fruits in an electric dryer
Try this way to cook prunes. How to make it at home, experienced housewives will tell you. Before drying, the fruits must be blanched in the same way as for the oven. Put 2 tsp in boiling water. soda, mix. Now put plums in the solution. If you cut the fruit in half, then there is no need to blanch them.
Spread the fruit in one layer. If you have half the drains, then lay them with the cut up so that the prunes remain juicy. Turn on the dryer 50 degrees. Let the plums dry for no more than 4 hours. Then remove the fruit pan to cool.
At the second stage, put the electric dryer at 60 degrees. Now they should dry for 5 hours. After the second step, remove the fruit to cool.
At the third stage, set the electric dryer to 80 degrees. Let the plums dry for 6 hours. Do not forget that at each stage the pallets must be interchanged for uniform drying. This is the final stage.
Now you have an idea of how to make prunes at home. The recipe is simple and quick. Therefore, if you do not have an electric dryer, think: most likely, it is time to purchase it.
How to make smoked prunes at home
This recipe produces tasty sweet and sour dried fruits. To prepare it, you will need 1 kg of juicy plums of a pound of sugar and 400 ml of water. Fruits must be washed, pitted and cut in half.
Now make the syrup. Boil water with sugar, reduce heat and put plums in the same container. It is necessary to bring the fruits and syrup to a boil and turn them off. Put plums on a towel so that the excess liquid is gone, now place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar.
Now you can put the plums in the oven for smoking at a temperature of 50 degrees. Do not forget to rotate them to dry evenly. Prunes are cooked in 3 stages. Set for 12 hours first. After that, turn off the oven. They should cool down for 12 hours. So 2 more times. Smoked plums are cooked for 3 days.
Many housewives dry fruits during the day, and at night they are set aside to cool. That's all the wisdom of cooking. It turns out delicious smoked prunes, from which you can cook compotes in winter or add dried fruits to food.