Sun Drying Fruits
Dried fruit is a great treat, but you might be a little bit exasperated by how much it costs. What you may not know is that drying fruit yourself is a great way to get snacks that taste great and are significantly cheaper besides. If you have an interest in drying fruits yourself, one of the best places to start is by drying them in the sun. While sun-drying fruit obviously works best when you live in an area that has high temperatures and low humidity, you’ll find that with enough patience, you can dry fruit just about everywhere.
The first thing to do, most obviously, is to buy the fruit itself. Apples are a great candidate for this operation, as are peaches, apricots and cherries. You may wish to avoid fruits like oranges and tangerines, which can be dried, but are so full of water that can take a very long time. Wash the fruit thoroughly and dry it before slicing them up and removing the pits. Remember that the smaller you cut them, the sooner they will dry.
A very small amount of pretreatment will allow the fruit to keep its color. Blanching is very hand for apricots and appples, and all you need to do is to put the fruit into a colander over a pot of boiling water for five minutes before putting it into ice water. Then drain the fruit and dry it throughly. For all other fruits, you can dip them into a mi of 2 tablespoons of asorbic acid that has been dissolved in a quart of water. In a pinch, you can also use 5 1 gram tabs of vitamin C instead of asobric acid.
During the pretreatment, you can decide a lot about how the final product will turn out. For instance, you can use a honey dip to make it sweeter. To do this, simply mix 3 cups of water with 1 cup of sugar, and after you have heated it, add a cup of honey, stirring well. Then dip the fruit in and dry it. Similarly, a quart of pineapple juice, a quart of water and one fourth a cup of lemon juice will make a terrific juice dip for peaches, apples and bananas.
Once you have pre-treated the fruit, spread them on a clean screen for two to four days in strong sunlight. You can turn them onto their other side half way through the process to speed up drying on both sides. Remember to place the fruit in a place where animals can’t get to it, and bring it in at night to prevent dew from rehydrating the fruit. This process will also take longer if the weather is cooler or more humid.
