Dried plum, or, in other words, prunes is a very healthy delicacy. But are you 100% sure that you are buying a quality product in the store that has not been treated with any chemicals to improve the appearance? I don't think anyone can answer this question unambiguously. Today we propose to consider ways to dry plums yourself at home. Such a product will certainly be of the highest standard, since the entire cooking process will be controlled by you personally.

You can dry any variety of plums, but the fruits that are firm and dense to the touch are best kept in shape. In this case, the product must be fully matured.

The preparatory stage consists of several steps:

1. Sorting. When sorting through fruits, specimens with rot and various damage should be immediately excluded. Only the best fruits should be dried.
2. Cleansing. Fruits are washed under running water and dried with paper towels.

1. Removal of bones. The plum is cut in half and the core is removed. This completes the preparation of pitted plums for drying. You can proceed directly to dehydration. If you plan to dry prunes with a stone, then we skip this step and follow all the other steps.
2. Blanching. In a liter of boiling water, dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and place the plum in this solution for 20 seconds. The amount of liquid is calculated so that the fruit is completely submerged in water. If necessary, increase the portion several times. This procedure is needed in order to remove the wax layer from the surface. The skin from being in boiling water should crack, which will contribute to better evaporation of the liquid.
3. After blanching, the plum is washed under running water.
4. In conclusion, the fruits are thoroughly dried with paper towels.

All ways of drying plums

In the sun

The prepared plum is laid out on grates or in well-ventilated boxes, and taken out into the sun. Every evening, containers with fruit are brought into the room and put back only the next day, not earlier than the dew has come down.

The total drying time is 4 to 6 days. It depends on the weather conditions and the size of the fruit.

After drying is completed, dried fruits must be finally dried in the shade. This will take another 3-4 days.

In the oven

To keep the baking sheet clean, it is covered with baking paper. Also, drying can be done on special grates. Prepared fruits are laid out in one layer. If the plum was cut in half, then it is laid with the skin down.

Drying in the oven consists of several stages:

• 5 hours at +50ºС;
• 6 hours at +70ºС;
• until the product is ready at a temperature of +75…+80ºС.

Between stages, the baking sheet is removed from the oven, the prunes are turned over and allowed to cool completely. After - continue the process according to the instructions.

Watch the video from the channel "Men in the Kitchen!" How to cook prunes at home

In an electric dryer

Plums are laid out on special pallets also in one layer. If you dry the halves of the fruit, then they must be placed cut up.

The temperature regime for the entire drying time will vary:

• Stage 1: dry for 4 hours at a temperature of +50 ... + 55ºС. We change the trays in places and turn the pieces over.
• Stage 2: dry for 4 - 6 hours at a temperature of + 60ºС. We change trays, turn over plums.
• Stage 3: until the product is ready, approximately 4 - 6 hours at a temperature of + 75 ... + 80ºС.

Watch the video from the channel "Ezidri Master" - Drying plums

in the microwave

For express drying in the microwave, you need to use only hard fruits, otherwise the plum will turn into porridge.

So, we take out the bones from the fruit and put them in a flat bowl lined with a paper towel. Slices should be placed cut side up. Cover the top of the slices with a paper towel.

Turn on the microwave at medium power for 3 minutes. At the end of this time, we remove the napkin, and put the products back in the oven for the same amount of time.

After the microwave signal, set it to full power, and dry the plums for another 1 minute. If this time is not enough, you can continue drying, checking for readiness every 60 seconds.

How to store prunes

Ready dried fruits should be elastic and firm. They should not stick to your hands or crumble when squeezed.

You can store prunes for 1 year away from products with a pungent odor.

Containers with dried fruits - glass jars, plastic containers or bags - are best kept in the refrigerator. If the product turned out to be dried, then it should be stored in the freezer.

Everyone ran and I ran! Have you seen how this year everyone began to dry plums with herbs and garlic? I have already met these plums on Facebook ten times, if not more! Given that plums are versatile and are good both in the sweet version and in the savory-spicy version, it was impossible not to try, and they really turned out to be absolutely wonderful! If you like sun-dried tomatoes in oil, then you will like these plums too, and before they disappear anywhere, run to the market! Take 2-3 kilograms at once, so that for the whole dryer, I still had to run to the market twice, because, having done it once, I immediately decided to repeat it. Both large sour ones and small sweet ones are suitable, small ones, however, dry faster, but you can clean them for now! I've done both types and I'm very satisfied.

For three trays of dehydrator Stockli Dorrex Pro T I needed:

2.5 kg. medium-sized plums;

5-6 medium heads of garlic;

50 gr. olive oil (you can use whatever you like) for greasing

Sea salt;

dried Italian herbs or your favorite herbs

I poured sun-dried plums with oil, made it from this:

200-250 gr. olive oil (take any, so as not to be very fragrant);

1 fresh chili pepper;

1 head of garlic;

Dry herbs: thyme, rosemary, sage, etc.

Process:

• Wash the plums, cut into halves, remove the seeds.

• Peel the garlic and cut into thin slices.

• Lay the plums cut side up on the dehydrator tray and place 1-2 cloves of garlic on each plum. Brush plums with oil, sprinkle with salt and herbs.

• I dried for about 12 hours at 70 degrees. These plums need a fairly high temperature so that they dry out on the outside and retain some moisture inside, so I did not dry them at 40 or 50 degrees.

Dried plums will smell amazing, it is very difficult to pass by this aroma, but try to carry less, then you will not regret it. Put them in small clean jars (you can even sterilize and dry), tamping a little, and prepare the oil. Put the garlic (peel and cut into slices), chopped chili, herbs in a ladle, pour oil and bring to a boil. Pour plums with this oil so that the oil completely covers the contents of the jar, close the lid and let cool.

I did not dare to store these treasures in the pantry, put them in the refrigerator so that they would not spoil for sure. Imagine how great it is to give such jars to friends, carry them with you on a visit or treat those who looked at the light! And with good homemade bread, this is generally something unimaginable, a real delicacy!

Among the autumn blanks, this recipe occupies a special place. Sun-dried plums with garlic deserve special treatment and a little tinkering with them. Unusual food turns out spicy and moderately spicy. It is served as an appetizer with a baguette or salted cheese. Dried plums at home for wine are very good. Today we will cook dried plums in the oven with the help of a step by step photo recipe. Be patient, because we will cook them for a long time and slowly.

Taste Info Various snacks / How to dry…

Ingredients

• plums - 0.5 kg;
• garlic - 3 cloves;
• sugar - 1 tsp;
• seasoning "Provencal herbs" - 2 tsp;
• sea ​​salt - 0.5 tsp;
• vegetable oil (olive or other) - 1 tbsp. l.

How to cook dried plums with garlic in the oven at home

Our recipe calls for 0.5 kg of plums, but they can be prepared for 1 kg or more. All food must be eaten.

First, let's prepare the plum. Rinse it under running water and lay it out on a cloth to dry. Our fruits must be dry.

Now carefully cut the berries in half and remove the seed from each. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Put our halves on it cut up.

Now let's prepare the "stuffing": pass the garlic through a garlic press. Combine it with Provence herbs, salt, sugar and vegetable oil. You can use other herbs for the filling: savory, a little nutmeg, ground cloves and any of your favorites.

Mix everything well and evenly distribute the resulting mixture into the deepening of the plums. You need to spread the filling with the entire cut, and not just the recess. Then the spicy taste will be more complete.

If you cook plums without herbs, but only with vegetable oil, then children will also like the dish, but sunflower oil should be refined.

Then we send our baking sheet to the oven. Set the temperature to 100-110 C and dry the plum at this temperature for about 4-6 hours. Our plum is ready when it dries well. To find out if the dish is ready, pierce the plum with a toothpick. If the juice flows, it's too early to take it out. Dried plums do not secrete juice.

If you want the halves to be more juicy, then you can not dry the plums to the end. But be aware that only well-dried plums can be stored for a long time.

If there are several pans, swap them from time to time. Then our plums will dry evenly.

Now you know how to dry a plum in the oven. You can serve this dish as an appetizer, these plums are also delicious with fried toasts and in vegetable salads. Store in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf in a glass container, filling with olive oil.

Most often, varieties such as Hungarian, cherry plum, renklod and Kyustendil plums are used for drying, but other varieties of plums can be used.

Small fruits are dried whole, large ones are cut in half and pitted to speed up the process.

Regardless of the drying method, plums are first sorted, selecting only strong ripe fruits without damage.

Prepared fruits can be dried in the oven, electric dryer or in the sun.

Drying plums in the oven

Before drying, whole fruits should be blanched for 1-2 minutes in boiling water, in which 2 teaspoons of soda were previously dissolved. Next, the plums are washed with cold water and blotted with a towel.

Blanching is carried out so that small cracks appear on the surface of the fruit, which are necessary for the evaporation of moisture. If the plums were cut in half before drying, then blanching is not necessary.

The easiest way to remove the pit from plums is to cut them along the pit and turn both halves in opposite directions. So the plum is easily divided into two parts, in one of which there will be a bone. After that, it will be easy to take it out.

Drying plums in the oven is carried out in several stages at different temperature conditions. First, the oven warms up to 50 degrees, a baking sheet with plums is placed in it for 5 hours, after which the fruit should cool for the same amount of time.

At the second stage, the oven warms up to 70 degrees, the inverted plums continue to dry for 5 hours. Then the temperature rises to 75 degrees, at which the plums are brought to readiness.

Drying plums in an electric dryer

For drying in an electric dryer, plums are blanched in the same way as for drying in an oven.

The fruits are laid out on a pallet in one layer, if they are cut in half - cut up.

The drying process is carried out in 3 stages at different temperature conditions:

• 3-4 hours at a temperature of 45-55 degrees;
• 3-6 hours at a temperature of 60 degrees;
• 3-6 hours at a temperature of 75-80 degrees.

At each stage, pallets need to be swapped once an hour. At the end of each stage, the pallets must be removed from the dryer in order to cool the plums to room temperature for several hours.

How to dry plums in the sun

Plums are naturally dried on wooden sheets. Pitted plum halves are placed on the sheet not too tightly, cut up, so that the plums do not lose juice during drying.

Plums should be exposed to the sun for 4-5 days, depending on the size of the fruit.

It is necessary to ensure that flies or wasps do not sit on them, otherwise such a product may contain harmful bacteria.

At night they should be brought indoors, and in the morning they should be taken out into the air after the dew falls, otherwise the fruits will become damp.

During the drying process, the plums are periodically turned over so that they dry evenly on all sides.

After drying in the sun, the plums are dried in the shade for another 3-4 days.

Determining the quality of dried fruits

The readiness of dried fruits is determined by the following criteria:

• when pressed, no cracks appear and no juice is released;
• dried fruits should be elastic, firm, but should not crumble when pressed;
• fruits should not stick to hands.

Store dried plums in a well-ventilated area. Fabric bags, paper bags and boxes made of wood or cardboard are suitable as containers.

Storage in glass jars is allowed, while the plums are sprinkled with sugar. Foods with a pungent odor should not be placed near dried fruits, because dried plums can absorb it.

You can make marshmallow from plums - a delicious and healthy dessert. The recipes for its preparation are quite diverse, but they all boil down to the preparation of plum puree, which is dried in thin layers.

Required Ingredients:

• plums - 1 kg;
• sugar - 1 cup.

If desired, sugar can be replaced with honey, as well as add your favorite spices: cloves, cinnamon, etc.

Ripe plums must be washed, cleaned of stalks and seeds. Puree for marshmallows can be cooked on the stove or in the oven.

In the first case, cast-iron or non-stick dishes are needed, on the bottom of which water 1 cm high is poured and chopped plums are poured.

The dishes are covered with a lid, the plums are boiled for 1 hour over low heat, they do not need to be stirred.

Then the plum mass is removed from the fire and cooled.

Cooled plums are rubbed through a sieve. The puree is cooked with the addition of sugar over low heat for 1 hour with continuous stirring.

In the second case, finely chopped plums are placed in a heat-resistant dish and languish under a closed lid in the oven at medium temperature. After the appearance of juice, sugar is added to them, the mass is mixed and returned to the oven. When the sugar is completely dissolved, the plums are cooled and rubbed through a sieve.

The finished puree is laid out in a thin layer on a baking sheet. To avoid burning, it is pre-lined with parchment paper. Do not make the puree layer too thin, otherwise the finished marshmallow will tear when removed. Too thick a layer of mashed potatoes will not dry well. The optimal thickness is 3–6 mm.

Pastila is dried in the sun or in the oven. Dry the marshmallow in the air should be on dry hot days, bringing it indoors at night. This process usually takes several days. You can also dry the marshmallow in the oven, heated to 40 degrees.

Finished marshmallow sheets are rolled into tubes or cut into slices and stored in a cool, dry place. Care must be taken to ensure that the marshmallow does not become damp during storage. If necessary, the drying procedure is repeated.

Regardless of the drying method, properly prepared dried fruits can be stored for a long time. At the same time, they retain all the beneficial properties of fresh plums.

Plums have long been considered an excellent object for harvesting. In the villages, these fruits were usually dried, soaked or made into compote. But dried plums still enjoy the greatest popularity to this day. The process of preparing them is quite long, but the result is a product with excellent taste.

Cooking methods

Those who have tried dried plums at least once know that they can be not only a fragrant dessert or a great snack.

These are juicy fruits, processed in a special way, in some cases they are used as an original side dish for meat. An unusual addition favorably sets off the taste of the main dish and makes it more enjoyable. To prepare dried plums, it is necessary to process products at elevated temperatures. For this you can use:

• Russian stove;
• oven;
• electric dryer.

For each of these options, there are specific modes and conditions that must be observed in order for the resulting product to meet the desired requirements. Basically, the technique boils down to the following steps:

1. General processing and partial crushing of fruits. Plums can also be dried whole.
2. initial heat treatment.
3. Introduction of additional components.
4. Final processing.

Depending on the option chosen, the result is a product with certain taste qualities.

The benefits and harms of spicy plums

As you know, the fruits of the plum tree are excellent helpers for the human body. They are capable of:

• cope with problems of the digestive tract;
• prevent blood clots;
• regulate the level of acidity in the human stomach;
• positively affect the functioning of the liver;
• maintain vision;
• remove toxins;
• normalize metabolism.

In addition, plums are often used as a cosmetic product, as they are able to nourish skin cells, rejuvenating and making it more elastic. Dried plums retain all these useful properties. Everyone can use them, except for those who have certain medical contraindications for this product. This category of people includes patients with diabetes or obesity, who are better off not including these fruits in their daily diet because of their high calorie content. Nursing mothers should also be wary of plums, so as not to cause colic or indigestion in babies.

DIY

Aromatic spicy plums can turn even the simplest dish into a real culinary masterpiece. That is why it is desirable for every housewife to have such useful products in stock at home. But for this, it is not necessary to go to the store. You can safely make dried plums at home. And this will require very few products: 1 kilogram of fresh plums, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, 100 milliliters of olive oil, allspice and black pepper, as well as dried herbs (rosemary, oregano and thyme).

Making dried plums at home is easy. For this you need:

1. Select for work only ripe, fleshy, but fairly dense fruits. After that, they need to be washed and dried thoroughly.
2. With a sharp knife, cut each plum into two halves and remove the seeds from them.
3. Sprinkle the slices lightly with salt and the dried herb mixture, then arrange them carefully on the baking sheet.
4. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees, and then send the prepared foods there for 5 hours.
5. At this time, you can peel the garlic and prepare the necessary dishes.
6. After processing, the plum slices should wrinkle a little and lose volume. Now they need to be folded into a glass container, alternating with the remaining spices and pieces of garlic.
7. Next, the products need to be poured with oil, corked and put in the refrigerator.

In this state, products can be stored for up to 3 months. At any time, they can be obtained and used for their intended purpose.

In the Mediterranean countries, spicy vegetables and fruits are very popular. So, in Italian cuisine there is a recipe with which you can make very tasty dried plums in the oven yourself. This will require the following set of ingredients: 1.2 kilograms of ripe plums, 80-90 milliliters of olive and 50 milliliters of vegetable oil, a pinch of sea salt, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons of a mixture of Mediterranean dried herbs with basil and a tablespoon of liquid honey.

The cooking process must be carried out in a certain sequence:

1. Remove the seeds from the washed fruits, and cut the remaining pulp into 4 parts.
2. Lay them skin side down on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment.
3. In a separate bowl, mix aromatic herbs with oil and honey. Pour the resulting mixture over the products.
4. After that, they need to be salted and sprinkled with herbs again.
5. Put a baking sheet with prepared fruits for 3 hours in the oven, preheated to 130 degrees.
6. In conclusion, dried quarters should be put in clean jars along with finely chopped garlic and fresh herbs (rosemary, basil), and then pour all this with olive oil and close tightly with a lid.

It is better to store such blanks after cooling in a cool place.

The simplest option

For those who are not used to savory flavors, you can suggest making sweet dried plums in the oven. It will be very simple, since only two main components are required for work: 2 kilograms of fresh plums and 400 grams of granulated sugar.

For work, it is better to choose the Hungarian variety. Its fruits are quite large and fleshy. The process technology in this case will be somewhat different:

1. First, as usual, the fruits must be washed, and then, cutting each of them in half, remove the seeds.
2. After that, the blanks must be folded into an enameled container (pan), sprinkled with sugar, and then, having installed a press on top, put in a cool place for several hours until juice appears on the surface.
3. The liquid must be separated by straining through a colander, and the halves themselves should be laid on a baking sheet, not forgetting to cover it with parchment.
4. Preheat the oven to 60 degrees, and then put the food in it, leaving the door slightly ajar. The duration of processing will depend on the desired degree of curing.

Finished products should simply be folded into sterile jars and, having covered them with a lid, put in a cool place.

In vivo

To get a delicious dried plum, the recipe can be simplified as much as possible by excluding any additional devices from it. So, for heat treatment it is not necessary to use an oven. It can be completely replaced by natural sunlight. For this option, you will need the main ingredients in the following ratio: 5 kilograms of plums (not overripe), 2 buckets of water and 80 grams of baking soda.

The work will be carried out in the following order:

1. First, the plums need to be sorted out, removing the rotten fruits.
2. After that, they must be cut lengthwise and the bones removed.
3. Boil water with soda (10 liters 80 grams), and then, laying the slices in a colander, lower them alternately into a boiling solution for 3 minutes.
4. Place processed foods immediately in a bucket of cold water.
5. After this, the workpieces must be washed, dried with a towel and, laid out on plywood sheets covered with gauze, exposed to the sun.
6. After a three-hour treatment, the fruits should be removed for 5 hours in the shade.
7. Repeat the alternation of heating and drying several times until the products become sufficiently elastic and liquid stops escaping from them when pressed.

It turns out very tender and fragrant dried plum. The recipe is good for rural residents and owners of summer cottages.

Technique to help

It is very easy to make dried plums in an electric dryer. This unit partly replaces the oven. Therefore, the same recipes are sometimes suitable for both devices. With the help of an electric drying chamber, many products are processed. And sometimes options are practiced when this requires minimal preparation of the main ingredient. This is how prunes are made in electric dryers.

Only fresh fruits, water and baking soda are needed for work. Drying of products occurs as follows:

1. First of all, the fruits must be blanched. To do this, they must first be dipped in a boiling soda solution for 30 seconds (15 grams of powder per 1 liter of liquid), and then immediately rinsed in cold water. It is necessary to ensure that cracks do not appear on the surface of the fruit. In this case, you need to either reduce the time of heat treatment, or reduce the concentration of the solution.
2. Spread the prepared plums on a tray covered with baking paper and send them to the drying chamber for 3 hours at a temperature of 50 degrees.
3. Take out the food and let it cool completely and lie down for 4 hours.
4. Send the plums back to the dryer. In this case, the temperature should be at least 75 degrees.

This alternation can be repeated for two days. The main thing is that the product remains elastic to the touch and no juice is released from the pulp when pressed.

spicy sweets

There is another original version with which you can easily cook sweet dried plums. In this case, you need very little time, and only salt, spices and sugar are required as additional ingredients.

The cooking method is somewhat similar to the previous options:

1. Divide the washed plums in the usual way into two halves and remove the seeds from them.
2. After that, they need to be sprinkled with selected additional components. To make dried fruits as sweet as possible, all ingredients except sugar can be completely eliminated.
3. Place the products in the oven for a couple of hours at a temperature of 120 degrees and wait until the slices dry out a little. At the same time, they must retain their plasticity.

Finished products will only need to be transferred to clean glass jars and poured with oil. Store food in a cool place with a closed lid. For flavor, along with dried plums, you can put a little garlic. If only sugar was used, this should not be done.