How to dry apricots at home

How to prepare apricots for drying

For harvesting, choose ripe fruits with dense and juicy pulp. Discard apricots with rotten areas or with dark spots on the peel in advance. Wash the remaining specimens thoroughly under cold running water.

Drain the apricots in a colander or place them on a towel to drain excess liquid.

If you plan to dry the fruit in slices, cut the fruit in half and remove the seeds from them.

Fruits can be prepared as a whole. In this case, a bone is removed from them with a stick, for example, for sushi. Attach its end to the place where the stalk was, and push the nucleolus out in one motion.

How to Dry Apricots Outdoors

This method takes the most time, but dried fruits are soft and retain a maximum of useful elements.

What you need

• apricots;
• table, trays or other flat surface;
• fine mesh, fabric or paper;
• gauze.

How to do

Line a table or tray with a piece of

grids, cloth or paper. Arrange the apricots on top in a single layer. Fruit halves should be placed flesh side up.

Cover fruit with cheesecloth to protect it from insects. Leave under a canopy in a well-ventilated place for 4-6 hours to dry.

After that, transfer the table or trays with apricots to the open sun and leave for 6-8 days. During this time, the fruits will have time to dry.

Keep fruits under a canopy at night to protect them from dew. Also, don't forget to check the weather forecast and hide your trays in case of rain.

How to dry apricots in an electric dryer

With the help of a special device, you can adjust the softness of dried fruits. For example, to make them harder for cooking compotes.

What you need

• apricots;
• electric dryer.

How to do

Arrange the apricots on the trays of the appliance. If you are using slices, put them in with the flesh side up, otherwise they will stick to the plastic after drying.

Put pallets with apricots in the device, set the temperature to 55-60 degrees. Dry fruits for 8 hours. Then turn off the device and let the workpieces "rest" for 8-10 hours.

After that, set the same temperature and dry the fruits for another 2-3 hours - they will turn out soft. If you need harder specimens for cooking compotes, increase the time to 6 hours.

How to dry apricots in the oven

Dried fruits prepared in this way remain juicy and soft.

What you need

• apricots;
• baking sheet;
• fork.

How to do

Arrange the washed and pitted apricots in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place the fruit halves, flesh side up.

Place the dishes in a cold oven, set the temperature to 40 degrees and leave the door ajar. After an hour, turn the slightly dried fruit over with a fork to the other side.

Raise the temperature to 50 degrees. Turn the fruit every hour and increase the temperature by 5 degrees until it reaches 65. Bring the fruits at this temperature to readiness, also turning them over every hour. Most importantly, do not close the door so that excess moisture comes out. The whole process can take from 12 to 24 hours and depends on the quality of the oven and the size of the fruit.

Finished dried fruits transfer to a clean bowl and let cool.

How to store dried apricots

Arrange dried fruits in glass or ceramic containers with a tight lid. In this form, apricots will not lose their flavor and will be protected from insects. Store blanks in a dark, dry place at a temperature of 15–20 degrees.