How to Dry Blueberries at Home - photo
Berries of blueberries are considered to be among the mostuseful plant fruits in the world. Containing many necessary vitamins and antioxidants, they are very useful for sight, and also reduce cholesterol in the blood and prevent the occurrence of infections of the urinary tract.
In dried form, blueberries are used as a filling of pies, they are added to compotes and cereals. How to dry blueberries at home to keep berries for the winter, will be discussed further.
How to Dry Blueberries for Winter
For this you need, in addition to blueberries, lemonjuice or pectin (another option, which will also be discussed below: water with ice and water, brought to a boil) and, of course, an oven or a special electric dryer. The drying time is several hours. Keep the berries in a dark place in paper or linen bags.
Preparatory stage
1. Put blueberries in a colander or in a strainer, rinse under cold running water. During washing, remove all leaves and twigs.
2. After washing, you need to sort out the whole berry, throwing out overripe, crumpled and moldy fruits (having a white coating).
3. Then proceed to drying. There are several recipes for preparing blueberries for the winter. All the methods perfectly help to preserve the color of the berry. But the best color is present in those blueberries that were processed with pectin in the preparatory stage. How to cook: first dissolve the pectin in warm water, pour them blueberries and then gently stir the berries with a spoon for their uniform coating. Then drain the liquid, placing blueberries in a strainer (colander).
4. Treatment of blueberry fruit with lemon juice. First of all put the lemon in a microwave oven for just a couple of minutes - so we get the maximum lemon liquid. Next, you need to sprinkle the lemon juice with blueberries and mix it thoroughly.
5. A variant using ice and boiling water is called blanching. This recipe will allow the berries to retain their brightness and saturation after drying. To do this, prepare a large pan in which you need to boil water, as well as a deep bowl of ice and cold water.
The secret of cooking is that first youdip the berries in a saucepan with boiling water for 2-3 minutes, and then transfer to a bowl of water and ice, pre-collecting blueberries from the pan in a sieve (to make the glass hot water).
Drying in the electric dryer
It is necessary first to lay berries in one layer inspecial trays of the dryer. Then proceed to the dehydrogenation of the fruit (within 6-9 hours to perform drying). The drying time will depend on how much you want to see the bilberry fruits dry. Ready-made berries shrivel and will be reduced in size.
After checking the product's availability, turn offelectric dryer and let the blueberries cool down. The cooling time will take two to three hours. Drying in the oven Preheat the oven to 60-70 degrees, and then - put a baking sheet in it, which must first be covered with a sheet of baking paper and put the berries in one layer. The door of the oven should be kept a little ajar so that air circulation is carried out. Dry preferably from 4 to 10-12 hours.
How to procure dried blueberry leaves for the winter
Bilberry leaves contain vitamin C, essential oilsand useful organic acids, so the infusion of them is a good antiseptic. Collection of blueberry leaves and drying is carried out in the following way: only the cleanest leaves are collected, then they are laid out on paper in a dark ventilated place. Dry for about 7-9 days. You can store it both in paper bags and in cans for tea or coffee.
Author: Katerina Sergeenko
