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Study the ropes on drying prune plums and different fruits! Whether or not you’re a professional at preserving otherwise you’ve by no means tried it out earlier than, anybody could make these easy and scrumptious snacks.
The next excerpt is from The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe. It has been tailored for the net.
Prune Plums: Excellent for Preservation
Prune plums are plums of sorts which are particularly good for drying. They’re additionally my favourite plum varieties for contemporary consuming. (‘Italian’, ‘Brooks’, ‘Stanley’, and ‘Imperial Epineause’ are some good prune plum varieties.)
I dry prune plums by selecting or shaking them off the bushes, then amassing them in monolayers in flat cardboard trays (corresponding to are discarded by grocery shops after they take away the six-packs of soda).
The plums will shake off the tree when they’re able to ripen, however will nonetheless be exhausting sufficient on the shake-off stage to be fairly proof against bruising. I’ve harvested immense quantities by shaking the bushes each two or three days and amassing till the harvest is over. I let the plums ripen to perfection indoors, inspecting them day by day. It’s best to inform prime ripeness by squeezing every plum very gently.
The Means of Drying Prune Plums
To course of for drying, I rinse the plums (if essential), lower them in half, and flip the seed out with my finger. Then I pop the backs as I place every half within the dehydrator (lower aspect up). “Pop the backs” merely means urgent towards the pores and skin aspect of every half to show the half inside out. No pretreatments are essential. The optimum temperature for drying is 135°F.The drying takes place from the lower floor, not via the pores and skin. So it isn’t essential to show the plum halves over, they usually don’t follow the drying floor.
The identical course of is used to dry halved figs and freestone sorts of apricots, peaches, and nectarines. All different fruits require further work to take away cores or seeds and/or to slice for drying. Sliced fruit takes way more area within the dehydrator than fruit that may be dried in halves. And sliced fruit should be turned over piece by piece half method via the drying; plus it sticks to the drying floor. So if you happen to love dried fruit however are as proof against processing labor as I’m, look first to prune plums, figs, and freestone sorts of apricots, peaches, and nectarines.
Really helpful Reads
Dried Apples: Two Methods to Take pleasure in All 12 months Lengthy
Simple-to-Make Drying Trays
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