Homemade dried cherries
Category: Blanks
Ingredients
Fresh cherry 2300 grams
Sugar 1160 grams
Water 420 ml.
Cooking method
RECIPE fresh cherries - 2300 grams
pitted cherries - 2000 grams
sugar:
for separating juice - 800 grams
for syrup - 360 grams
water - 420 ml.
finished product yield - 600 grams or 26% to raw cherry
additional product:
cherry juice with sugar - 1000 ml.
cherry syrup - 500 ml.
waste - cherry pits 300 grams or 13% by weight of raw cherries
electric dryer, I have Isidri for 3 modes of hot air.
GENERAL INFORMATION The principle of cooking dried cherries, like other types of fruits and berries, vegetables, comes down to four main stages:
- preparation of fruits
- removing its own juice from the fruit
- soak the fruits in hot sugar syrup
- drying, drying fruits
Each type of berries, fruits, vegetables has its own degree of preparation, juice removal, exposure in syrup, its own sugar / water concentration, and drying conditions.
This threefold principle is necessary to remove raw juice from the berries, replace it with sweet sugar syrup, and then dry the berries until tender.
The moisture content of the finished dried product should be about 20-22%.
From one kilogram of raw prepared berries, about 300 grams of dried cherries are obtained, which I did approximately.
Store dried fruits in a dark place at a temperature of 12-18 * C and a relative humidity of 65-70%.
Store the finished product in sealed glass jars or in paper bags, placing the latter in plastic bags that are tightly tied. In this package, dried fruits, vegetables, berries are stored for a long time, more than a year.
Scheme of the amount of ingredients per kilogram of pitted cherries and stages: - removal of own juice from fruits:
sugar - 400 grams
- soak the fruits in hot sugar syrup
sugar - 300 grams
water - 350 ml.
PREPARATION AND COMMENTARY 1. Preparation of fruits Rinse the cherries well in water, sort out, remove low-quality fruits, leaves, etc., let the water drain, dry on a towel. I dried the cherries in a "carousel" for greenery, the water drains very well, the berries are not damaged.
Remove seeds from berries. Try to keep the berries intact, so the berries look nice and whole.
Weigh the pitted cherries, how much sugar you need to take depends on this weight.
2. Removal from the fruit of its own juice I got it after weighing 2000 grams of cherries.
According to the scheme, for every kilogram of pitted cherries, 400 grams of sugar is required, I have two kilograms of cherries, which means I weigh 800 grams of sugar.
I put the cherries in a large saucepan, add sugar, mix well, leave for a while to separate the cherry juice. Stir occasionally with a spatula to dissolve all the sugar. Try to stir gently so as not to damage the berries.
To keep the berries to separate the juice should be about overnight, at a room temperature of 20-22 * C.
Next, put the colander in a large bowl, put the berries in it, and thus let the excess juice drain. Shake the colander periodically, trying to make the berries release more juice.
My cherries stood in a colander for about 8-10 hours, as a result, about one liter of pure cherry juice on sugar was separated.This juice can be temporarily stored in the refrigerator, or brought to a boil and preserved.
Next, we weigh the remaining cherries without juice, from this we will calculate the water and sugar for the syrup.
Cherries without juice on sugar are very tasty, but you still feel that the berries are raw to taste, the sweetness is "raw", the stickiness of the berries is not the same, the color of the berries is cherry, but not that beautiful dried - in general, everything is raw!
3. Soak the fruits in hot sugar syrup. I got 1200 grams of cherries without juice.
According to the scheme, for each kilogram of pitted cherries, 300 grams of sugar and 350 ml are required. water, I have 1200 grams of cherries, which means I weigh 360 grams of sugar, and measure out 420 ml. water.
I pour water into a saucepan, add sugar, stir, let the sugar dissolve and the syrup boil.
I pour the cherries into the syrup, stir, let it boil, immediately reduce the heat to low and keep the berries at low boil (whispering the syrup) for 7-10 minutes. I stir periodically so that the berries are soaked in the syrup evenly and completely.
I turn off the heat, leave the saucepan with berries to infuse in hot syrup, until the syrup cools down to about 40-50 * C, until warm, while the berries are still warm, but the sugar has not frozen and the berries have not stuck together.
The purpose of this operation: to achieve the replacement of the allocated juice (essentially water) with sugar syrup, which is a berry preservative, gives the berries a taste, the possibility of easy drying, long shelf life.
After cooling the berries, pour them together with the syrup into a colander, and leave for several hours until all the liquid is removed from the berries. Shake the colander periodically. My berries also stood the night, covered with a towel. As a result, another 500 ml was released. red cherry syrup.
The berries have taken on a beautiful cherry color and tastes good like cherry jam! I already wanted to eat such berries, a lot and all the time!
4. Drying, drying of fruits.
I put the berries on a baking sheet of an electric dryer, it turned out two full pallets. I spread it on the net so that it doesn't fall through. From below she substituted solid trays, there was a danger that the cherry juice would flow. But, the berries were well made, the excess liquid was almost completely removed, so solid trays / plates were not needed, they remained clean.
I turn on mode 3 at once (Isidri), the temperature of which corresponds to about 55-65 * C, and the process of drying, drying cherries has begun.
I dried cherries for three hours at this temperature. Initially, there was an idea, to dry the cherries for three hours at 55-65 * C, then switch to a light mode 35 * C (for grass), but the result showed that the cherry is well dried, the berries are practically dry, moderately sticky, moderately soft, plastic and there is no point in overdrying longer, so as not to overdry at all. I don't know how to measure the humidity, so I visually compared the berries with purchased dried cranberries and cherries - in my opinion, the result converges.
We achieve the readiness of the product to the state:
- softness, plasticity
- no release of juice (liquid) when pressed.
Here, something like this ...
Sun-dried cherries were a success ... now the task is how to extend the life of dried cherries, so as not to eat them in the coming days or hours!
Note
PREHISTORY... I was looking for the book I needed on the Internet, I saw the book "Dried Fruits and Vegetables", asked me to throw off the content that did not inspire me at all for dried cherries, and the content itself did not say anything, just general words, and I mean this book I forgot ... And then they ask me a question: will you take the book? I also had doubts and decided that I would not lose anything, maybe something new and read ... A booklet arrived ... 144 pages, old, yellow, glued binding, and each page spread falls apart and crumbles, the cost of the book is 70 kopecks ... was in 1984 The book designed for the "industrial" production of dried fruits and vegetables, but written very well, understandable, interesting, accessible. It contains a large number of recipes for drying, preserves, jams, etc., various fruits, berries, vegetables. And then like in the movies! I got a book, I go home, it's hot, I sat down on a bench under a tree, opened the book that I had looked through, I saw, among other things, a cherry (it’s time for which has already passed!) the cherry has just been picked in a bucket right there from the tree ... well, and bought of course ... who can resist this, read the recipe available and walk by when all the conditions for cooking are there! Yes, even while I was on foot, my uncle gave me a cherry on a motorcycle to the entrance, as much as 5.5 kilograms turned out! Today I am glad that I have not given up buying this old book! Cook with pleasure and bon appetit!
