Dried pumpkin is a unique and incredibly healthy preparation. Its peculiarity is that the vegetable retains all minerals and vitamins during processing. You can dry it in different ways, most often an oven or a special dryer is used for this. Based on drying, you can prepare all kinds of dishes: desserts, first courses, meat, salads. And pumpkin powder gives baked goods an attractive appearance and original taste.

Dried or dried pumpkin is good because it can be eaten instead of store-bought dried fruits; it is perfect as a light snack on the road or for a child at school.

You can dry pumpkins regardless of the variety, but it is better to choose autumn vegetables with thick skins. They will turn out tastier and will be ready to eat faster.

Pumpkins for drying should be selected that are ripe, without stains and unspoiled, in their entirety. It should first be washed and cut, remove the entrails and seeds. The peel is cut off and the vegetable is cut as follows:

• small cubes (for example, for candied fruits);
• plates (for chips);
• narrow strips (as an ingredient for salads, soups and other dishes).

The pieces still need to be processed before drying begins. For example, through blanching. Place them in boiling water for two minutes. This will preserve the bright color of the vegetable when dried. And in order to protect them from damage and pests, it is recommended to treat them in a saline solution.

You can dry pumpkin naturally. The following devices are also used for this purpose:

• electric or gas oven;
• air fryer;
• special drying.

The temperature and processing time depend on the type of vegetable, the thickness of the pieces and the type of device. On average, the drying temperature ranges from 50 to 85 degrees. When finished, the pieces should retain elasticity, but not stick to your hands.

Natural drying

In this case, the pumpkin pieces should be laid out on a wire rack or tray in a single layer and placed in the sun. This can be done on a balcony, veranda or even on the roof of a country house.

In direct sunlight, the pumpkin can dry out within a week or a little longer, but only if the weather is dry and warm. To protect it from insects and dust, you can cover it with gauze.

You can dry the pumpkin pieces by hand and over a gas stove. The cut is threaded with a needle onto a fishing line or nylon thread and suspended over the stove and wait until the liquid has completely evaporated from the product.

Cooking in the oven

Before placing the pumpkin in the oven to dry, it is blanched. Drying time is about 6 hours. For 1.5 - 2 kilograms of product, take two liters of water and a little salt.

You need to prepare drying like this:

• wash the pumpkins and dry them on a paper towel;
• cut off the peel and remove the entrails;
• cut the pumpkin into even, identical strips about a centimeter thick;
• prepare a container with ice water;
• Blanch the slices in salted boiling water for two minutes, then place them in a colander and drain;
• preheat the oven to a temperature of 55−65 degrees;
• Place the slices on a baking sheet in one layer so that they do not touch each other;
• put it in the oven for 5 hours, leave the door slightly open so that the moisture can escape during evaporation;
• After 5 hours, increase the temperature to 80 degrees and dry for another 2-3 hours.

Cool the finished dried pumpkin. Place it in glass jars and store in a dry place.

Using an electric food dryer

There are special devices for drying different products. In this case, it is best to cut the vegetable into small pieces so that they are better processed.

For 2-3 kilograms of pumpkin, take 3 liters of water and a large spoon of salt. The preparation looks like this:

• wash the vegetable, cut it, remove the entrails and peel it;
• First cut the pieces into thin slices, then into small cubes of the same size, but be careful that after drying they do not fall into the holes of the grate;
• then they are blanched as described above. Then cool in cold water and dry;
• Place the pumpkin pieces on the grid so that they do not touch each other;
• Depending on the power of the device, set the temperature to medium and simmer until done. If it is about 90 degrees, then the procedure will take 4-5 hours, if less than 50 degrees, then 12 hours, respectively.

Dried pumpkin will shrink by about half after cooking. When cooked in a special dryer, it will come out incredibly tasty and aromatic.

Dried pumpkin in cooking

Dried pumpkin after cooking is completely ready to eat in its pure form. But it can be used as an ingredient for various dishes, and pumpkin can also be dried according to one recipe or another to make healthy chips or powder and other dishes. Ready-made dried pieces can be added to puree soups after boiling them in salted water.

For lovers of savory snacks, you will love this recipe for making pumpkin chips. You can cook them in the oven or in the same dryer.

First, the vegetable is cut into large pieces, the insides are removed and baked in the oven at a temperature of 170 degrees, right with the peel. Depending on the size of the pieces, baking time is about half an hour.

When the vegetable is cooked, cool it and remove the pulp with a spoon to the skin. One pumpkin weighing about 2 kilograms will yield 2 cups of pulp. It is laid out on a tray in a thin layer, about a glass comes out on one baking sheet. Drying time is 16 hours and temperature is 55 degrees. The end result will be thin sheets of orange color, they are very fragile and break easily. Chips can be stored for a long time in a glass container.

Such sheets can be consumed in pure form or made into a powder based on them. To do this, they are ground in a meat grinder or coffee grinder. When you combine it with water, you get a very tasty pumpkin puree, and various products are also added to it to generally strengthen the body, lower cholesterol levels and stabilize the functioning of the intestines and kidneys. For this purpose, it is soaked in water in the proportion of a quarter of the powder per glass of water, then added to meat or soup. The powder can be used to bread meat or fish or add it to flour when preparing flour products.

How to make candied fruits

Candied pumpkin can be prepared in an electric dehydrator. To give them an original taste, you can add spices in the form of ginger or cinnamon, as well as oranges or lemons. For 500 g of pumpkin, take a glass of sugar and the peel of one orange, spices to taste.

The preparation is as follows:

• cut the pumpkin into pieces, add sugar and let sit for several hours until it releases juice;
• add spices and chopped orange peel;
• transfer the contents to a saucepan, put on fire and cook for five minutes;
• remove from heat and leave for 6 hours;
• boil the contents again for five minutes and leave for three hours;
• place the pieces on a tray lined with parchment;
• place in the dryer for 6 hours.

You can also prepare candied fruits with lemon. They take a long time to prepare, but they turn out to be very original and tasty. For 2 kg of pumpkin take 600 grams of sugar, half a glass of powdered sugar, two lemons and water.

The preparation is as follows:

• cut the pumpkin pulp into small 2 cm cubes;
• cover it with sugar and adjust overnight. When the pumpkin releases juice, it needs to be poured into a separate container;
• Peel the lemons, remove the seeds and grate them. Pour the mixture into pumpkin juice and mix everything and put on fire;
• Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes;
• strain the liquid, add to the pumpkin and put everything on the fire. Cook for about an hour and a half until thickened;
• drain the remaining liquid and strain the contents;
• place on wax paper;
• dry in a dryer at 50 degrees in convection mode for 12 hours;
• let the vegetables cool;
• Sprinkle them with powdered sugar and place them in a glass container for storage.

Candied fruits can be given to children instead of store-bought sweets. They are not only very tasty, but contain a large number of healthy ingredients.

Pumpkin candies and chocolate

Another option for making sweets based on dried pumpkin is banana-flavored candies. For them you need to take half a kilogram of pumpkin pulp, baked in the oven. Then add banana, sugar and beat everything using a blender. Spoon the puree onto a tray and process it in the dryer for 12 hours. The pumpkin pieces will end up being plastic and soft; they will need to be rolled into a tube and cut into portions.

And to make regular dark chocolate healthier, you can supplement it with candied pumpkin, dried seeds, as well as raisins and dried apricots.

Raisins and dried apricots in an amount of 50 grams are soaked in warm water for several minutes, then dried on a paper towel. Pumpkin seeds are dried in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of 160 degrees with constant stirring.

200 grams of chocolate are melted in a water bath, poured onto prepared parchment, sprinkled with dried apricots, raisins, candied fruits and pumpkin seeds. Cool it for two hours, then cut it into pieces and put it in the refrigerator.

Dried pumpkin has an unusual taste, so when drying sweet varieties of vegetables there is no need to add sugar, so it will be as healthy as possible. You can take chips or sweet pieces with you to work or school as a snack, and you can cook them at home, even in a regular oven.

Pumpkin is one of the most popular vegetables in dietary and baby food. In a dark, cool room, the fruits can be stored until spring. But a cut pumpkin cannot be preserved for a long time. In addition, the grown fruits often reach enormous sizes, and the family is not able to eat such an amount of pumpkin within a maximum of two weeks. That is why it is recommended to dry this vegetable. We’ll tell you how to do it correctly in our article.

Dried pumpkin: calorie content and nutritional value

Pumpkin, like most other dried vegetables and fruits, retains the same set of nutrients that it contained fresh. The dried vegetable contains all the important vitamins and minerals necessary for the normal functioning of the body, dietary fiber, which has a beneficial effect on metabolic processes and helps eliminate waste and toxins.

Dried pumpkin gives strength during physical activity, has a positive effect on all organs of the digestive system, and strengthens memory. Moreover, the semi-finished product obtained as a result of drying does not require additional heat treatment. Dried pumpkin contains 1.8 g of protein (2% of the daily value) and 8.4 g of carbohydrates per 100 g of vegetable. Calorie content depends on the type of fruit and is approximately 41 kcal per 100 grams. Thanks to this, pumpkin can be included in various diets, used in the preparation of low-calorie dietary soups, cereals, etc.

Three ways to dry pumpkin

There are three main ways to dry pumpkin at home:

1. Drying pumpkins outdoors is the best option, but indoors in the kitchen is also suitable.
2. Dried pumpkin and fruit - with this method of processing the fruit, the required temperature is maintained, allowing you to preserve the maximum of nutrients.
3. Drying pumpkin in the oven - can be used as an alternative to an electric dryer. If the technology is followed, it also produces tasty and healthy dried vegetables and fruits.

In addition, dried pumpkin can be prepared with sugar or unsweetened, while maintaining the natural taste of the product. We will tell you more about how to dry pumpkin in different ways below.

How to air dry pumpkin

Our grandmothers used this method when they prepared apple, apricot and other dried fruits for the winter. According to this recipe, chopped pumpkin pieces are laid out in one layer on a baking sheet, or better yet, a sieve that will provide good ventilation. After this, the workpiece with pieces of vegetables must be taken out into the open air (to the courtyard of the house or to the balcony) and the baking sheet should be positioned so that the rays of the sun fall on it. If the weather is good, dried pumpkin will be ready in 2-3 days.

You can also dry the pumpkin in the kitchen. To do this, it is cut into thin slices and hung with a sewing needle on a nylon thread. In this case, the pumpkin will dry under a hood or over a window for about a week.

The dried one proposed above has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, it is difficult to maintain the necessary sterility conditions, since flies will still land on vegetables. Secondly, autumn weather is not always favorable for drying.

How to dry pumpkin in an electric dryer?

The easiest and most convenient way to dry the pumpkin is in a special electric dryer. And although vegetables are dried in it from 12 to 24 hours, this happens without direct human intervention. Just fill the trays with chopped pieces and turn on the device. After 12-20 hours, the dried pumpkin in the dryer will be ready. The temperature in the device is maintained at 55 degrees throughout the entire time.

It is necessary to cut the vegetable for drying into small pieces no more than 3 cm thick. The time the pumpkin spends in the dryer will depend on the size of the cut. Before drying, the pieces can be boiled for 5 minutes in sweet water (100 g of sugar per 1 liter of water). Thanks to this, pumpkin dried in an electric dryer will have a richer taste and brighter color.

Store the finished pumpkin in a glass jar, covered with a cloth and tied with a rubber band. You can also use a special bag made of natural fabric for storage.

Drying pumpkin in the oven

Drying pumpkin in the oven is much faster than in the air, but not as convenient as in an electric dryer. And yet, it is this method of obtaining drying that is used most often by housewives.

Before putting the baking sheet with the pumpkin in the oven, it is recommended to blanch the vegetable cut into pieces by first immersing it in boiling water for 2 minutes and then in cold water. This will help maintain the bright orange color of the pumpkin. The water can be made sweet or slightly salty.

After the water has drained from the pumpkin pieces, thrown into a colander, they must be laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and placed in the oven for 5 hours, where they will dry at a temperature of 60 degrees. After 2 hours, increase the temperature to 80 degrees and continue drying the vegetable for another 2 hours. Then turn off the oven and leave the baking sheet in it until it cools completely.

Dried pumpkin in the oven turns out slightly soft inside. It can be added to sweet pastries, milk porridges, or eaten instead of sweets with tea.

Dried sweet pumpkin

The whole advantage of this recipe is that you can get not only sweet pumpkin, which can easily replace candy, but also bright and aromatic pumpkin syrup. It is recommended to dry the orange vegetable according to this recipe in the following order:

1. Place pumpkin pieces (1 kg) about 3 cm thick in a saucepan, add a glass of sugar, cover with a flat plate and put pressure on top, for example a three-liter jar of water. Place the pan in the refrigerator overnight.
2. After the specified time, pour the juice into a separate jar and save it for syrup. Cover the pumpkin pieces with sugar again and put the pan in the refrigerator for another 10 hours.
3. After the time has passed, remove the pumpkin, pour the reserved juice into the pan and boil it, adding sugar to taste. Boil the juice for 10 minutes, then add pumpkin pieces to it and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, without allowing the syrup to boil.
4. Place the pumpkin in a colander or sieve, after which the juice can be preserved.
5. When all the excess liquid has drained from the pumpkin, the pieces can be dried using any of the methods suggested above.

Candied pumpkin in an electric dryer

In an electric dryer you can prepare healthy vegetables that are in no way inferior in taste to natural “sweets” made from pineapple, bananas and other fruits. At the same time, in order to improve the taste of candied fruits, it is recommended to additionally use spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger). Dried pumpkin also goes well with citrus fruits (lemons, oranges).

To prepare candied fruits according to this recipe you will need 0.5 kg of pumpkin, a glass of sugar and the peel of 1 orange. First, the vegetable must be cut into pieces, then sprinkled with sugar and left in this form for several hours so that the pumpkin releases its juice. After a while, you need to add the diced peels to it and put the pan on the fire. Cook the pumpkin for 5 minutes, then remove the pan from the stove and leave the mixture to steep for 6 hours. After the specified time, boil the pumpkin again for 5 minutes, and then let it brew again for 3 hours.

Then place the vegetable pieces on trays previously covered with parchment and leave in an electric dryer for 6 hours. After the specified time, the candied fruits will be ready.

Pumpkin chips

You can make thin dry pumpkin sheets either in the oven or in an electric dryer, but it is preferable to use the second drying option. You need to start the process of processing vegetables with baking. To do this, the pumpkin is cut into several large pieces, the seeds are removed from it, and the vegetable itself is sent directly with the peel to the oven, heated to 170 degrees. Baking time depends on the size of the chopped pieces and is 20-40 minutes.

After the vegetable is ready, it must be cooled and with a spoon, remove all the pulp right down to the peel. One pumpkin weighing 2 kg yields about 2 cups of pulp. You need to spread it on the tray of the electric dryer in a thin layer, about a glass per baking sheet. The pumpkin will dry for 16 hours at a temperature of 55 degrees. The result is thin orange sheets. Dried pumpkin in the dryer turns out to be quite fragile, so it easily breaks into pieces. This produces chips that store well in a glass jar.

Pumpkin powder

The resulting leaves from drying the pulp can be used in preparing dishes directly in this form, or they can be used to make pumpkin powder. To do this, chips dried according to the previous recipe must be crushed in a coffee grinder or electric meat grinder with a special attachment. If the grinding is too coarse, the powder must be sifted through a fine sieve and then crushed again.

Dried pumpkin, the recipe for which involves drying pieces rather than pulp, can also be used to make pumpkin powder. Only you will need to first hold it in an electric dryer for 4 hours so that the pieces become hard inside. It is almost impossible to turn a soft pumpkin into powder.

What dishes can you prepare from dried pumpkin?

Dried pumpkin in the form of unsweetened pieces is most often used to make pureed soups. To do this, it is boiled in salted water, where it increases in volume several times. After this, other vegetables are added to the soup, and at the very end of cooking, it is pureed using a blender. Sweet candied fruits are usually added to baked goods along with other dried fruits.

Dried winter pumpkin has found even greater use in the form of pumpkin powder. It is used in the preparation of absolutely any dishes. To do this, the powder is first soaked in water (1 cup of water per ¼ cup of powder), and then added directly to the dish. You can use the powder directly in dry form, using it as a breading for meat and fish, or adding it to flour, making it brighter and the dough tastier.

Dark chocolate with candied fruits and dried apricots

This is a great way to make an ordinary one more useful. To do this, its taste is enriched with candied pumpkin, dried apricots, raisins and dried seeds.

For preparing candied fruits, a recipe for dried pumpkin (sweet) will be relevant. Dried apricots and raisins (50 g each) must be soaked for several minutes in warm water and then dried on a paper towel. Dry the pumpkin seeds in the oven at 160 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring constantly so as not to burn. On a sheet of parchment, draw a square with sides of 20 cm to indicate the boundaries of the future chocolate bar.

Then you need to melt the chocolate (200 g) in a water bath. Pour it onto the parchment, sprinkle candied fruits, dried apricots and raisins on top, as well as pumpkin seeds, peeled or not. Cool the chocolate for 2 hours. Then cut into pieces and store in the refrigerator.

Healthy banana and pumpkin candies

To prepare such sweets, you will also need pumpkin pulp (0.5 kg), baked in the oven. Then add sugar to taste and puree using a blender. The resulting puree is spooned onto a marshmallow tray in an electric dryer (about 6 tablespoons), distributed evenly in a thin layer and dried for 12 hours. During this time, the sheets will not become dry, as when preparing chips. They will be soft and pliable. They are rolled into a tube, which is then cut into portions.

Homemade dried pumpkin candies are moderately sweet and very healthy. They can be given to children starting from the age of one.

Dried pumpkin pkhali: Georgian cuisine

Pkhali (mkhali) is a Georgian dish that can be prepared from any vegetables, meat, fish or offal, but the dressing is always the same. Dried pumpkin is always used for pumpkin pkhali. It is boiled in salted water, then drained in a colander and allowed to drain off excess liquid. After this, the pumpkin is cut into small pieces.

The dressing is always prepared from the same ingredients. To do this, use walnuts (2 cups), cilantro, celery and dill, utskho-suneli (1 teaspoon), garlic (3 cloves), vinegar (3 tablespoons). Next, the pumpkin is mixed with the dressing and allowed to brew for about an hour. During this time, the pumpkin absorbs all the liquid from the sauce and may become too dry. If necessary, you can add a little water to the snack.

Preparing vegetables for the winter is an integral culinary stage in the life of every housewife; Those who are especially experienced know that there are different preparations - both canned and dried. The topic of our article will be the preparation of dried fruits, and to be more precise, we will talk about all the intricacies of how to dry pumpkin in an electric dryer.

This autumn vegetable, containing a large amount of useful substances, is a frequent guest in the usual menu of the citizens of our country. This is understandable, because you can use it to make a lot of delicious dishes that will only benefit our health.

Why do you need to dry pumpkin?

This is a completely natural and logical question, because you can store the pumpkin whole and nothing will happen to it. All this is true, but drying is not a useless exercise. Two facts can be cited as weighty arguments in its favor:

1. Dried pumpkin contains much more natural sugar than regular pumpkin. This makes the fruit much sweeter.
2. Drying also extends the shelf life, since we all know that drying can last for more than a year, but fresh pumpkin is unlikely to be able to withstand that long without spoiling, even if you keep it in ideal conditions for preservation.

How to choose the right pumpkin fruit for drying

This issue is quite simple. If you listen to our practical advice and purchase exactly the vegetable we recommend, then consider that your drying is 90% successful.

So, what should a pumpkin be like for drying:

• Vegetables should definitely be taken only of the table variety.
• The fruit should not be very large in size.

• The pulp should have a beautiful yellow color, and the peel should be firm and smooth without any damage or stains.
• And, of course, the pumpkin should have a dry tail - this is a clear and main sign of the ripeness of the fruit.

How to dry pumpkin in an electric dryer the classic way

Having talked about the need for drying and choosing a product for it, you can get straight to the point. If you have never dried a pumpkin fruit before or done it using other household appliances other than a dryer, then let’s say that there is nothing complicated about it.

This process is a little protracted, but not as much as it happens when drying in the open air. So the advantages are obvious, all that remains is to proceed step by step.

How to dry pumpkin in an electric dryer step by step at home

• First of all, wash the pumpkin thoroughly, then wipe it dry or allow time to dry naturally.
• Now the washed dry pumpkin needs to be peeled from the stalk and skin with a sharpened strong knife.

If the peel is too hard, then you need to first cut the vegetable in half, and then divide it into several smaller slices. This will make cleaning them much easier.

• We remove all seeds from the fruit. If desired, you can dry them in the oven, and then click them while watching your favorite movie.
• Cut the completely peeled pumpkin into equal length slices. Their thickness should be no more than 1 cm.
• Boil water in a saucepan, add salt to taste, then add our pumpkin pieces to the boiling water. We boil them for 1-2 minutes, after which we remove them from the hot water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to ice water for the same amount of time as the cooking took - 1-2 minutes. Prepare a bowl of chilling water in advance, while the pumpkin is still blanching in boiling water.
• Transfer the pumpkin pieces from cold water to a towel made of natural material and give them time to get rid of excess moisture.
• Now that the pieces have dried, place them on mesh trays designed for drying vegetables, at a minimum distance from each other. But you shouldn’t put the pieces very close.

• We set the electric dryer to a moderate mode and dry the natural product for 3-4 hours with the lid slightly raised. Drying occurs until complete readiness. From time to time the pieces need to be stirred so that they do not stick to the tray.

The total drying time may differ for each of you - a lot depends on the size of the pieces and on the household appliances themselves. But if the pieces have become 1.5-2 times smaller, this is a sure sign that they are completely ready.

How to deliciously dry pumpkin with sugar syrup in an electric dryer

This recipe is absolutely suitable for lovers of candied fruits, because the pumpkin will be sweet after drying. And all because we will cook it in sugar syrup before drying.

You can easily use this drying in desserts and baked goods. Believe me, with such a sweet addition, your pies and fruit and berry desserts will, without a doubt, be eaten by even the most capricious gourmets.

Ingredients

• Water – 1 l;
• Sugar – 3-4 tbsp. l.;
• Pumpkin - quantity at your discretion.

Drying sweet pumpkin in an electric dryer according to a simple recipe

1. Wash fresh ripe vegetables in water, remove peel and seeds.
2. Cut the pumpkin pulp into not very large cubes, preferably medium size.
3. Mix sugar with water, bring the mixture to a boil, then throw the pumpkin pieces into boiling water and blanch them for about 4 minutes.
4. After the specified time, place the vegetable on a sieve and leave for a while to allow the remaining syrup to drain.
5. Place the blanched pumpkin parts on a tray and turn on the maximum temperature setting in the dryer. As soon as you see that the pumpkin has begun to dry out, immediately lower the temperature to 65° Celsius. Next, dry until ready.

How to tell if the pumpkin is ready (dry enough)

The most important thing in this matter is not to overdo it with the degree of drying. Therefore, when you read “dry until done,” this means that you need to achieve the level of drying when the pieces are still a little soft and flexible, but no longer stick to your fingers.

If you chew a piece for a long time, you should feel like the pumpkin is melting in your mouth. Its taste will definitely be sweet.

If the pumpkin cubes are sticky and wet, it means they are not completely dry. Leave them for a certain time until they reach the desired condition.

In general, you can dry pumpkin not only in a vegetable and fruit dryer, but also in an oven, convection oven, and even in a regular oven. Preparing vegetables and the drying process itself in different culinary devices is no different, only the time can be different. The ideal temperature for drying is +50-85 °C.

How to store dried pumpkin

There are several options for storing dried pumpkin, but the best are:

1. Storage in vacuum plastic containers.
2. Self-sealing bags with Velcro at the top.

You can also use bags made from natural fabric or paper bags, but this is not as reliable as the 2 methods described above.

Now you know how to dry pumpkin in an electric dryer. This is very simple and accessible to each of you, if, of course, you have such household appliances. But even if not, you can always find a worthy replacement for it, fortunately, there are plenty of alternative options.

Use any of our methods - each of them can be easily implemented at home. You can do everything, and the result will definitely not disappoint, because the “sunny beauty” (pumpkin) was literally created to bring benefit and joy to people.

What are the benefits of dried pumpkin? Pumpkin - natural vitamin and mineral complex. The fruit is considered a champion among other fruits in terms of its content gland. In addition to iron, the product contains:

• beta-carotene;
• cellulose;
• vitamins - C, E, B1, B2, PP;
• macro- and microelements - potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium, cobalt, fluorine, silicon, zinc.

Vitamin E and zinc salts, which pumpkin is especially rich in, help prevent premature aging of the body.

Pumpkin - product dietary. Due to its minimal content of coarse fiber and acids, the vegetable is acceptable for consumption by people with inflammatory diseases of the digestive system.

Pumpkin brings great benefits to people with... iron deficiency anemia, since it contains a mineral complex that takes part in the process of hematopoiesis. Regular consumption of dried pumpkin has a positive effect on liver.

The pumpkin itself is a product low calorie, and when drying it without adding sugar, the calorie content is 28 kcal/100 g. However, if you dry the pumpkin, keeping it and blanching in sugar, its calorie content increases to 110 kcal/100 g.

Read about that in our article.

Basic Rules

How to dry pumpkin at home? All varieties of pumpkin are suitable for drying. You can learn about this from our article. Before you start preparing the vegetable, it needs to be prepared:

After carrying out the preparatory activities, the pumpkin can be dried.

Ways

Typically, the drying process takes place outdoors or in an oven or electric dryer. You can learn about this from our other article.

On air

For air-drying, the prepared pieces must be placed on sieves in a place with good ventilation where they will not be exposed to direct sunlight.

A few days later the pieces needs to be mixed and leave for another 2 days. After this, you can take it out into the sun, leaving the pumpkin in such conditions for 2 days. Air drying usually lasts 5-7 days.

If you chop the pumpkin at the preparation stage not into cubes, but, for example, stripes, then they can be dried by hanging them on a nylon thread.

You can learn how to dry a pumpkin right in your kitchen from the video:

In the oven

The process of preparing pumpkin is faster if you produce it in the oven. To do this, the prepared product is scattered onto a baking sheet in 1 layer and placed in a preheated oven. up to 80-85 degrees for half an hour.

How to make dried pumpkin in the oven sweet? You can learn how to cook oven-dried pumpkin with sugar in the video:

Pumpkin has been known since ancient times, and every nation has legends associated with it. Perhaps no other fruit or vegetable has as many legends as the pumpkin. Many peoples consider it to be the repository of the sun and light. Cambodian legend says that several people were saved in a pumpkin from the oncoming Great Flood. And when it was over, they got out of the pumpkin and planted its seeds. But it was not plants that grew from the seeds, but new people who repopulated the Earth. Therefore, Cambodians revere the pumpkin as the ancestor.

The ancient Slavs believed that the gods hid the sun in a pumpkin with the onset of autumn. This is why the pumpkin turns so bright golden in the fall, and the sun appears less and less in the sky. In Ancient China, it is also believed that pumpkin helped repopulate the Earth. During the Great Flood, a little boy and girl hid in a gourd and escaped. It was they who became the progenitors of the entire new humanity. Therefore, all newborns were bathed in ancient China in a font made from a large pumpkin. And to this day, the Chinese consider pumpkin a powerful talisman that absorbs evil energy. It is hung over the door as a talisman and rattles are made to ward off evil spirits by placing dry beans in them.

A Nigerian legend tells about a certain ruler who, because of his greed, decided to collect all his smart thoughts in a huge pumpkin and become the wisest and richest man in the world. But when he began to hide the pumpkin so that it would not be stolen, it fell and broke. All wisdom scattered throughout the world.

Today it is quite difficult to say where the pumpkin originated. Some scientists believe that pumpkin comes from China, others suggest that the Indians of North America were the first to cultivate it. Many peoples have preserved myths and legends associated with pumpkins. This unpretentious, beautiful pumpkin, which produces large yields, is popular in many countries. It is grown in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, India, Australia, Canada and Mexico and in a number of other countries, which indicates the popularity of pumpkin.

Benefits of pumpkin

Both fresh and dried winter pumpkin are highly valued for their beneficial qualities. Moreover, if an Isidri dryer is used to dry pumpkin, then all the vitamins contained in the fresh product will be preserved in the dried product. There is a lot of carotene in pumpkin. The more cold-resistant the variety, the more of this provitamin. There are vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, D, PP, E, as well as a very rare vitamin T, which has a serious effect on metabolic processes in the body. Pumpkin contains pectins, magnesium, potassium, copper, cobalt, and calcium. Science has long confirmed that pumpkin is simply a storehouse of vitamins and minerals necessary for humans.

Pumpkin contains a lot of phosphorus and copper. And in terms of iron content, it is the leader among vegetables. These microelements have a beneficial effect on hematopoietic processes, so pumpkin should be consumed for diseases of the heart muscle, kidneys, high blood pressure, cholelithiasis and obesity. Potassium strengthens the heart and blood vessels, removes swelling. Pumpkin is useful for patients with colitis and enterocolitis, chronic nephritis. It has a beneficial effect on vision and helps maintain youth. Helps improve the functioning of the nervous system.

Choosing the “right” pumpkin for drying

The drying process helps concentrate the natural sugars in the pumpkin, making it sweeter and extending the shelf life. Experts advise choosing pumpkin for drying exclusively of table varieties, with yellow flesh, not very large in size; such fruits have better taste and less fiber. The skin of the pumpkin should be firm, smooth, without blemishes or visible damage. The pumpkin tail should be dry, which is an indicator of ripeness.

How to properly dry pumpkin in an electric dryer: our practical experience

. For drying, we took twenty kilograms of pumpkin.

We cut each pumpkin into pieces, and then carefully peeled all the pieces, carefully cleared them of seeds and unnecessary fibers.

Cut the particles into smaller pieces. After cleaning the pumpkin, out of twenty kilograms of product, we were left with 13.5 kilograms of peeled pumpkin, which amounted to 68% of the total mass. The share of waste accounted for 6.5 kilograms, that is, 32%.

We carefully and evenly distributed approximately 450 grams of grated pumpkin onto each tray of the electric dryer. All of our grated product fit on 30 trays of an electric dryer.

We turned on the device and set the temperature to +55 degrees. She helped us dry the pumpkin properly. The pumpkin was dried in it for 24 hours at a set temperature. The temperature in the room where the device was working was +18 degrees.

After completing the drying process, we carefully removed the trays and shook off the resulting pumpkin shavings from the meshes. The result was 1.3 kg of dried product.

We placed the dried pumpkin in glass jars under vacuum lids.

Pumpkin dried in an Isidri electric dryer turns out much tastier than if it were dried outside or in the oven, and besides, it is much less hassle.

Many housewives store dried pumpkin in paper bags or fabric bags or plastic containers. We recommend vacuum lids, since using them significantly increases the shelf life, and the dried product will be reliably protected from mold.

Making Pumpkin Powder

Delicious pumpkin can retain all its beneficial properties in powder form. In this case, the horizons of its culinary use expand. Pumpkin powder is also perfectly used in cosmetology for various masks.

Before grinding dried pumpkin into powder, it is recommended to dry it further. To do this, pour dried pumpkin shavings out of the jars and carefully distribute them among the trays.

The Ezidri vegetable dryer dried the pumpkin for an additional 4 hours at a temperature of +65 degrees.

We grind the dried shavings using an electric meat grinder with a “mill” attachment and sift through a sieve in order to prevent the formation of lumps and large particles that are not ground into the powder.

Screened particles that did not pass through the sieve. we again passed through an electric meat grinder and sifted.

The resulting powder was packaged in hermetically sealed bags.

Using pumpkin and pumpkin powder in cooking

Dried pumpkin is used in soups; pumpkin “noodles” can be added as a decoration for salads and desserts. And if you grind pumpkin chips into powder, they are used as a breading for various meat and cereal products, such as meatballs, zraz, meatballs, semolina, buckwheat or meat cutlets.

Pumpkin powder is a necessary food product for people engaged in physical and mental labor. It contains a lot of zinc, choline, and amino acids, which increase brain activity, improve memory and eliminate fatigue and nervous tension. And arginine, calcium and phosphorus affect the frequency of muscle contraction, which helps increase muscle growth. Therefore, athletes should include pumpkin powder in their diet.

It can be added to dough and fermented milk products to give a beautiful color and delicate aroma. Pumpkin powder is also used as a thickening flavoring additive for cereals, soups, cocktails, sauces, and gravies. Baked goods with the addition of pumpkin powder are saturated with complete plant protein and at the same time do not go stale for a long time and are not exposed to mold much longer. Thanks to the versatility of using the powder, you can create your own pumpkin recipes. And to stimulate your imagination, we will present several dish options.

Appetizer with pumpkin

Boil dried pumpkin shavings in lightly salted water until soft. Then drain in a colander, cool and squeeze. Chop a little. Squeeze the garlic, crush the walnuts. Mix nuts, pumpkin, garlic, salt, add a little wine vinegar, cilantro and dill, and capsicum. It makes a very tasty snack.

Interesting “sea” salad

Boil pumpkin shavings a little in salted water until they become slightly soft, add dried kelp to it to your taste with a little vegetable oil (about half a teaspoon). You can add dried vegetables. Grind the mixture with your hands. The salad is ready. Its taste is sweet-salty, fishy, ​​and this salad looks like dried squid.

In a heated frying pan with broth, simmer the chopped leeks until soft. You can use vegetable, meat, or chicken broth. Add a finely chopped clove of garlic, dried pumpkin, thyme, pepper, pour in another liter of broth and bring everything to a boil. Cook until the pumpkin is soft. Add a few tablespoons of soy sauce, turn off the heat, let the soup brew, cool and blend with a blender until pureed. This soup is served with croutons or finely chopped young garlic.

Baked fish

Mackerel or cod is filleted, cut into pieces, placed on the bottom of the pan, sprinkled with dry pumpkin shavings so that it completely covers the fish, then with onion rings, and poured with dressing. It consists of a glass of kefir, three eggs and salt. The fish is placed in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for half an hour. Serve hot.

Quick salad

Soak dried pumpkin “noodles” for a few minutes until they become soft, then add grated apple, a spoonful of honey and sprinkle with lemon juice. Here's a quick salad.

Pumpkin is one of the best and most valuable gifts that gives us the sunny summer period. This is a huge storehouse of the most essential vitamins and microelements for our body. And if you are lucky enough to get a large pumpkin harvest, then you should definitely make preparations for the winter, and drying is an ideal option for high-quality preservation of such a sunny product. And in winter, during the period of vitamin deficiency and colds, it will be enough just to take out a jar of dried pumpkin, or a bag of pumpkin powder, prepare a vitamin dish, or simply add a sunny note by sprinkling the dessert with bright pumpkin powder.