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How to store dried fruits?
Drying is a great way to preserve fruit for a long time, but strict adherence to its storage conditions is imperative. You can enjoy dried fruit for a year or more by following simple rules, or you can end up with too tough, sometimes moldy fruit by breaking them without foresight.
How to store dried fruits in containers
Choose sealed glass or iron containers for storing fruits, plastic ones are somewhat less suitable for these purposes. Before putting dried fruits in jars, wash the containers with detergent well, rinse and then dry thoroughly. Glass jars can be rinsed with boiling water or washed in the dishwasher. Any moisture in the containers can cause the dried fruit to grow moldy.
If you want to properly preserve your own dried fruit in an oven or special dryer, let them cool for an hour. Warm dried fruits that are closed in a container can generate moisture.
Keep factory dried fruit separate from home dried fruit. Store and market fruits may contain sulfites or sulfur. When packing such dried fruits in iron containers, put them in tight plastic bags, as sulfites interact with metals and may discolor.
Label each container with the type of dried fruit and the date it was packaged. Store dried fruit away from moisture, heat, and sunlight. Dried fruits packed in this way can be stored for up to a year, sometimes a little longer. If you need to store small portions of dried fruit, place them in dry, clean, zip-fastened, heavy-duty plastic bags. When storing large quantities of dried fruit in containers, check it from time to time. If you notice that the fruit is growing moldy, you can take it out, sort it out and dry it.
Glass containers are ideal for storing dried fruits, as through transparent glass you can see the state of dried fruits
How to store dried fruits in the freezer
By freezing dried fruits, you can store them three to four times longer than keeping them at room temperature. In addition, under the influence of light, which nevertheless penetrates into kitchen cabinets, vitamins A and C are slowly destroyed in dried fruits.
Pack fruit for storage in small batches to minimize the risk of contamination the moment you take out your next batch of dried fruit
To store dried fruits in the freezer, choose vacuum bags as packaging. If you don’t have them, go for a dedicated freezer bag. After putting the fruits in the package, remove the air from it as much as possible. Seal the bag with the date of packaging and put it in the freezer. Since dried fruit should not be thawed twice, pack it in portions so that it can be eaten in a short time.
Do not use moldy, slimy, foul-smelling, or rancid dried fruit, even if scalded with boiling water.
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