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How to dry pears at home, in the oven
Pears are useful in any form, but the most convenient option for harvesting them for the winter with the ability to use them both in pure form and for preparing compotes, pie fillings, mashed potatoes and other things is drying. Now you will learn how to dry pears at home and how to store them properly after.
How to dry pears: preparing the product for processing
The easiest way, of course, is to dry the raw fruit. However, this option is only suitable for subsequent use in compotes and fruit teas. A delicacy that is more refined and varied in terms of further use can be obtained by drying cooked fruits. In both cases:
- fruits are sorted out, removing rotten, frozen, damaged by pests;
- wash the fruit thoroughly, preferably with a brush, and dry it;
- cut large pears into slices no more than 1 cm thick without removing the seed capsule and skin;
- for a more delicate product, the seeds and skin are removed, cutting is done into quarters or eighths.
How to dry pears at home?
Next, fruits prepared for drying in a raw form are laid out on a baking sheet: a tray, a rack of the dryer and the drying process begins. Those pears that require additional processing – too hard, slightly sweet – are boiled until soft in water or weak syrup, the amount of sugar depends on the desired sweetness of drying, after which they are also laid out on a plane.
How to dry pears: air, oven, dryer or microwave
When dried in the fresh air, the fruit is placed in the sun. At night, the product is cleaned into the room, after two days of such drying, the pears ripen in the shade. Using the oven involves keeping the sliced fruit at a temperature of 55-60 degrees Celsius in a slightly open oven with a minimum fire for two hours. After that, for an hour or two until the slices or whole fruits in the volume decrease, the temperature rises to 80 degrees, then decreases again to the initial level and is maintained until drying is completely ready.
A special dryer allows you to quickly and evenly dry fruits, here it is important to follow the instructions exactly and take into account the size of slices or whole fruits
As for the microwave oven, it dries as quickly as possible, but the loaded portions are small. For cooking, fruits are laid out on a oven platter in one layer on top of a linen or cotton cloth. It takes 2-3 minutes at full power for the juicy fruits to turn into drying, the time is selected individually.
Proper storage of dried pears
Once you’ve figured out how to dry pears in the oven, other devices, or naturally, it’s also important to figure out the correct storage method. The best option is a dense bag made of high-quality natural fabric, better than linen, stored in a dry and ventilated place. It is also permissible to keep dried fruits in tightly closed glass jars and containers. Periodic inspection, drying or sorting of the harvested product will prevent it from being damaged by mold or fruit moths.
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