How to dry and dry persimmons at home

As practice shows, you can dry persimmons at home. Harvesting this product for the winter will not only increase the shelf life of your favorite delicacy, but also provide an opportunity to provide your family with a supply of valuable vitamins and nutrients.

Choosing persimmons for drying

The taste of dried or dried persimmons directly depends on the quality of the raw materials used. When selecting, they look first of all at the ripeness of the fruit and the state of its stalk.

Overripe, too juicy fruits with cracked skin will not work. Also, do not take astringent fruits for drying. The best option is a moderately ripe persimmon of a bright orange color with an intact clean skin without defects (cracks, spots). Even the smallest drying damage can become a breeding ground for mold.

The stalk should be firm and dry. Green color indicates the immaturity of the fetus. The dried tail should not come off easily from the fruit.

Fruit without a stem is not suitable for whole-fruit curing

Do not take fruits that have undergone long transportation or storage for drying. Too small specimens are also not suitable for blanks. In the process of drying out, they will significantly lose in size.

The quality of the finished product also depends on the selected variety. Most often, persimmons are chosen for drying Ukrainka, Korolek, Shokoladnitsa or Bull's heart.

Kinglet is an early variety that is distinguished by the presence of small seeds. Ukrainian is a variety whose fruits are heart-shaped. Due to the lack of seeds, it is she who is most often taken for blanks.

The bovine heart is the variety with the largest fruits. It can only be dried in a climate where the weather is stable for two or three months. When dried in the oven, this species loses some of its taste. The chocolate maker ripens later than anyone else, so it is only suitable for cooking in an electric dryer or in an oven.

Preparing persimmons for drying

Before making dried persimmons at home, you need to competently prepare the main ingredients and equipment. This process directly depends on the chosen method of drying the fruit.

When drying in the open air under the sun, it is not recommended to wash the fruit. Moisture on the stalk will provoke rotting. Therefore, before hanging the fruit, just wipe it with a soft cloth or paper napkin, removing soil particles.

If the oven is chosen as the drying method, then the fruit is rinsed, then laid out on a towel and left to dry naturally. Too long stalk with petals is cut off, leaving only a dry tail. This improves air circulation, and the fruit dries faster.

How to dry persimmons at home

Drying persimmons at home can be done in several ways. However, each of them requires constant monitoring. Depending on the method chosen, the cooking process lasts from a few hours to 2.5 months.

How to dry persimmons in the oven

When choosing between gas and electric ovens, the latter should be preferred. They are not characterized by temperature fluctuations, so the drying process in them occurs more evenly.

Fruits are dried in the oven, most often in the form of slicing or whole fruits

When drying in slices, a certain sequence of actions must be performed:

1. Remove the stalk.
2. Cut the fruit into slices 4-5 mm thick.
3. Remove bones.
4. Drizzle with lemon juice.
5. Spread the blanks on a baking sheet covered with parchment.
6. Put in the oven for 6-7 hours at a temperature of 60 ° C.

Air circulation can be improved by opening the door or turning on the convention mode.

With the whole fruit drying method, the following must be done:

1. Place each fruit in boiling water for 10 seconds, then remove the skin from it.
2. Put the peeled fruits on a covered baking sheet.
3. Send everything to the oven for 8 hours at 60 ° C.
4. Switch on convection mode (required).

Oven dried persimmon loses some of its flavor. However, this is the only way to dry the product in unfavorable climatic conditions.

Drying persimmons in an electric dryer

You can make dried persimmons at home in an electric dryer. The dehydrator is great not only for harvesting fruits and vegetables, but also for drying mushrooms, herbs, berries and even curing meat.

The use of an electric dryer implies the following sequence of actions:

1. Cut off the stalk, chop the fruit into thin slices, remove the seeds.
2. Arrange the fruit pieces in one layer on a wire shelf.
3. Set the "Fruit" mode or the temperature to 60 ° С.
4. Cook for at least 6 hours.

You can speed up the process by pre-blanching whole fruits in a boiling soda solution (5 g per 5 L of water). Whole fruit cannot be dried in this household appliance. But there is an opportunity to experiment with cutting them.

You can also make fruit chips in the electric dryer

Dried persimmon in the microwave

In the absence of an oven and dryer, you can cook dried fruits in the microwave.

This requires:

1. Separate the stalk, cut the fruit into thin slices, remove the seeds, if any.
2. Spread the slices on a flat platter.
3. Cook for 20 minutes in the Defrost mode or with the lowest possible heat.
4. Open the appliance door (10 minutes) and allow excess moisture to escape.
5. Repeat the heating-evaporation cycle until the product is completely ready.

The microwave drying option is considered one of the fastest

How to dry persimmons on strings in the fresh air

You can wilt persimmons at home in a natural way. This requires favorable climatic conditions or a dry, well-ventilated room. Most often, this method is used by residents of the southern regions.

The drying method is as follows:

1. Rinse the fruit and dry it naturally.
2. Prepare a thin rope or sturdy thread and awl.
3. Start stringing the fruit on a string, piercing the dried stalks. The distance between fruits should be 10-15 cm.
4. Hang the workpieces indoors, cover them with gauze from insects.
5. Dry for 7 to 14 days, then store.

To prevent the dried fruits from sticking together while preserving, you can slightly “powder” them with flour.

Store dried fruit covered with breathable cloth

How to dry whole persimmons

It is very simple to dry a persimmon at home entirely. This method was used many generations ago.

Pre-peeled fruits are laid out on a tray so that they do not come into contact with each other. Dried fruits during the day, taking them indoors at night. During daylight hours, they are turned over 3-4 times, thus anticipating the occurrence of mold.

The duration of the process depends on weather conditions and size

On average, the method takes 2-2.5 months. It allows you to preserve the largest amount of vitamins and beneficial nutrients.

Japanese-style persimmon drying

The Japanese method is very similar to the thread drying method. However, there are also differences. Before stringing the fruits, they are blanched in boiling water for 3-5 seconds. After that, the fruit garland is hung in a dry room and the fruit is kneaded by hand every four to five days. Japanese-style drying takes about 5 weeks.

Thanks to blanching and "massage", the persimmon acquires a jelly-like pulp inside and can be stored for a very long time.

This natural sweetness is called hoshigaki in Japan.

Drying persimmons in Armenian

The Armenian method also includes hanging the fruit on strings. After that, the algorithm of actions changes:

1. First, a syrup is prepared (50 g of granulated sugar per 1 liter of water), into which each fruit is dipped for 5 seconds.
2. Then the garland is fixed vertically so that the fruits do not come into contact with anything.
3. The workpieces are dried in a dark dry room.
4. After a week, when the surface becomes less sticky, cover the garlands with gauze.

The syrup makes the dried fruit sweeter.

It must be remembered that candied fruits attract many insects, so the workpieces should be inspected regularly.

Drying persimmons in Abkhazian style

The main difference between the Abkhazian method and other methods is the use of unripe persimmon. Fruits are hung on a string or twine in a well-ventilated area. From insects, the fruit is covered with clean gauze and left for 1.5 months, checking every three days for rot and black spots.

Naturally dried persimmons are reminiscent of the taste of marmalade

How to know if a persimmon is ready

The readiness of the product can be determined by the change in size, color, structure and the appearance of a whitish coating (Armenian drying method). On average, the fruits after cooking are reduced by two to three times, become more elastic, do not give juice when pressed and lose the characteristic stickiness of the skin.

What is the difference between dried persimmon and dried persimmon?

Dried whole fruits are called naturally dried. They are distinguished by a long cooking time - 1.5-2 months. Dried persimmon is a product that is dehydrated using an oven or electric dryer. It is cooked for no more than 20 hours.

How to store dried and dried persimmons at home

There are several ways to store dried and dried persimmons at home. A naturally prepared product can be left in the form of strings, after having covered them with breathable cloth or gauze.

You can store dried persimmons at home in glass containers. The main condition is tight closure to avoid moisture ingress. Another way is to pack dried fruits in wooden boxes, where each layer is covered with gauze.

White bloom on persimmon is crystallized glucose

The storage room should be dark, ventilated and dry. Also, the product can be placed in an enamel container, covered with a cloth and placed in the refrigerator.

Conclusion

There are many ways to dry persimmons. Their choice depends on the climate, variety and equipment available. If you follow all the rules, you can get a healthy product that can easily replace any dessert.

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