How do you dry and store peaches and plums. Do I add ascorbic acid, lemon or salt to peaches before drying?. Do I cut plums in half or add any preservative before drying?
When I dried food, I used clean screens & put them in by the furnace. I tried to use screens on top & bottom, or a baking sheet covered with the wire things you use to cool cookies, etc. on. You want them covered to keep flies off. I sliced everything very thin, so that the stuff dried quickly. I had a food dehydrator, but I thought the old way was just as good. It's a great thing to do if you have lots of stuff - like apples. They are delicious dried. BTW, the stuff took longer to dry then I had expected. I think at least a week.
I just dehydrated grapes and they make wonderful raisins! Much better than what you buy in the store! I have done peaches and bananas, but I'm not crazy about them. Tomatoes are very good also. I do store mine in the fridge just because I am a little "weird" like that. I dry celery, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and onion (put all in a jar) and use for soups, stews and meats. I do not do anything to them other than dice them with my vidalia onion chopper. Potatoes turn a little gray, but once in food, you never know it.
You can add any type of acid to your peaches & apples (even ascorbic acid which is Vitamin C) to stop them from turning brown. But if they do turn brown, this will not effect the flavor or freshness. I'd stay away from salt (unless you're making dried asian salted plums). Just make sure your fruit & veggies are REALLY dry before storing them away in a jar with a tight fitting lid or a vacuum bag or even in the freezer in a zip-loc bag.
* Remember, if you DO use ascorbic acid that Vitamin C in large quantities can deplete calcium. It can also cause diarrhea
Back in the olden days people would make drying racks from screens that hung from their ceilings above their wood stoves & in other countries they dry all of their fruit & veggies on their hot tin roofs using only sunshine. If you do this you had better pray it doesn't rain! Most people in the USA use food dehydrators & if this is what you have in mind, you don't really need to do anything special to your fruit except MAKE SURE it's TOTALLY dried & there's no moisture al all left. The most important thing is storing them afterwards. Even though the fruit may still be okay to eat six months or a year later, it will loose a little bit of flavor each month & after 6 months it may not taste like anything but cardboard, so go ahead & eat it or use it to cook with & don't save it (to long) for a rainy day.
Yes, you should cut the fruit into halves or smaller sections, because the smaller & thinner the slices, the quicker it will dry. Also, never dry onions or any smelly things in your dehydrator when you are drying fruit.
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