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Peaches are a favorite delicacy of many. Their pleasant aroma and sweet taste leaves no one indifferent. But like all fruits, these fruits are seasonal. Of course, you can find fresh peaches on store shelves in the winter season, but their taste will not be so rich. There is another way to enjoy your favorite fruits in winter – this is to wither them. After all, dried peaches are quite tasty and healthy dried fruits.
The benefits and harms of dried peaches
Peach fruits, preserved for the winter with the help of drying, contain many useful substances:
- organic acids;
- essential oils;
- mono- and polysaccharides;
- various useful elements (potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, sodium);
- vitamins of group B, as well as vitamins A, C, E and PP.
This composition makes the fruit a good antioxidant. Due to this, dried fruits are often recommended to be eaten for cancer prevention. Doctors also claim that they are useful for people with cardiovascular diseases, as they help improve blood composition and increase hemoglobin.
Like all natural products, dried peaches also have negative properties. Due to the high sugar content in the composition, they are contraindicated in people with diabetes. In addition, such a large number of various microelements makes them allergens in case of excessive use.
How dried peaches are made
Dried peaches at home can be cooked in an electric dryer or in an oven.
But the safety of all useful trace elements in this product depends not only on the method and process of preparation, but also on the choice of raw materials.
Overripe and damaged fruits are not recommended for use, since during preparation for drying (in preliminary infusion in sugar), they can ferment or begin to deteriorate.
There are no special requirements for the variety and appearance of peaches. For the preparation of such a delicacy, any variety is suitable, even those in which the bone does not separate well.
In size, you can take both small fruits and larger peaches. Only in this case it is worth considering that their cutting will be different. Small fruits can be divided only into halves, medium – into 4 parts, and larger ones – into 8 parts. Drying time will depend on the thickness of the slices.
The recipe for making dried peaches is quite simple and includes 3 main steps: separation of juice, boiling and drying.
How to dry peaches at home in the oven
Ingredients:
- peaches – 1 kg;
- sugar – 700 g;
- water – 350 ml.
Drying method:
- Wash peach fruits thoroughly and dry.
- Cut them in half and remove the stone (larger fruits are cut into 4 or 8 parts).
- Arrange the sliced u400bu1bfruits in layers in a saucepan, each layer should be sprinkled with sugar. Sugar for filling chopped peaches is required at the rate of 24 g per 30 kg of fruit. Leave them in this form for XNUMX-XNUMX hours at room temperature to extract juice.
- When the peaches have stood for a certain time in sugar, they should be poured into a colander to drain the allocated juice.
- While the juice is draining, prepare the sugar syrup. Pour the remaining 300 g of sugar into the pan and pour 350 ml of water, put it on fire, bring the contents to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Gently place the slices into the boiling sugar syrup. You don’t need to mix them up. Boil the fruit for about 5-10 minutes and remove the pan from the heat. Let cool.
- The cooled boiled peaches should be transferred back to a colander to drain the syrup. Do this so as not to damage them.
- Spread peach slices in one layer on a baking sheet and put in the oven, preheated to 70 degrees for 30 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 35 degrees and dry them.
Ready dried dried fruits should not be wet and sticky. A good indicator of the readiness of dried fruit is the absence of stickiness.
How to dry peaches in an electric dryer
Ingredients:
- peaches – 1 kg;
- 400 d Sahara.
How to cook dried peaches in the dryer:
- Wash and dry fruits. Cut in half and remove the bones.
- Pierce each half of the peach with a toothpick from the side of the peel in several places.
- Arrange the halves in the first layer in a deep container, cover with a small amount of sugar. Then spread another layer on top and also cover with sugar.
- All peaches covered with sugar must be left in a warm place for 30 hours to extract juice.
- After insisting in sugar, they are transferred to a sieve (it is placed on a saucepan) to drain the juice. If the juice remains in the container, it should also be drained into the pan.
- The drained juice in a saucepan is put on gas and brought to a boil. Boil the syrup should be no more than 2-5 minutes. After boiling, reduce the heat so that the syrup does not boil.
- In hot syrup, using a small slotted spoon, it is required to lower halves of peaches 1-2 pieces. Take them out as soon as their flesh becomes translucent. The procedure takes about 10 minutes. As a result, you should get soaked with hot syrup on top, and raw peach halves inside.
- After this procedure, the cut fruits should be put on a sieve and allowed to stand so that the syrup stacks.
- Then the halves in one layer must be laid out on a dryer tray. Set the temperature to 60 degrees and leave them for 10-13 hours. During this time, it is required to turn off the dryer 2 times and let the fruit cool. So they are better saturated with their own juice.
Ready dried peaches should be left to cool completely in the dryer without removing them.
How to store dried peaches
Dried peaches, if properly stored, can retain their beneficial properties for up to two years. Store them in a dry place out of direct sunlight. It is better to keep them in a cloth, canvas or paper bag.
Conclusion
Dried peaches are a tasty and healthy preparation for the winter. They are healthy, fragrant and retain their original taste properties for a long time, so they can easily become a favorite delicacy not only in the winter season, but all year round.
