Plums taste best when eaten fresh, right after picking from the tree. But sometimes it may happen that we will not be able to eat all the plums in our garden at once. Then the excess of them should be used for drying, the more so thatdrying the plumsis quite simple. In winter, dried plums will be an excellent snack, they will also be useful for compote or for making tinctures. Seehow to dry plums in the oven
Dried plums
Which plums are suitable for drying
Suitable for drying are plums that are fully ripe and of course he althy, without damage caused by pests or diseases.It is best when these are fruits that have fallen from the trees themselves, and their ripeness is evidenced by the wrinkling of the skin at the tail. Among the popularly cultivated plums in our gardens, Hungarian women are the ones that dry the best.
How to prepare plums for drying
Pick the fruit to discard the sick or insufficiently ripe ones and remove their tails. Then wash them and blanch for about 30-60 seconds at 80-90 ° C. In practice, I just pour boiling water from the kettle on the plums and then pour out the water. Thanks to this treatment, the plum skin will soften and be better dried. Now the plums have to dry so that they are not moist. Then, cut them in half and remove the stones.Plums ready to be dried , it's time to preheat the oven!
How to dry plums in the oven
Drying plums in the ovenrequires good air circulation, so place the plums directly on the rack. If the oven has hot air, we can expect a much better drying result for the plums.Preheat the oven to 60 ° C and put plums in it daily. After 24 hours, the plums can be removed and dried in an airy place for another 24 hours.
This is the easiest wayto dry plums in the oven , but it carries the risk of cracking the peel of the fruit. Sometimes the plums get too dry and not fleshy. In order to prevent this, intermittent drying is used, but the plums need to be looked after from time to time. Initially, the oven is heated to 50-55 ° C and put the plums in for 3-4 hours until they start to wrinkle. Then take the plums out, cool them down, it is worth stirring them up a bit. They go to the oven again, this time to a higher temperature of 65-70 ° C. At the end of drying, the temperature in the oven can be increased up to 90 ° C.
Well-dried plumsshould be fleshy, sweet and sour, with a shiny black skin. When eating them, remember that although very he althy, prunes are much more caloric than fresh plums.
