How to dry berries

Drying berries is a great way to preserve favorite fruits in the winter and a great alternative to freezing or canning. Dried berries do not have any chemical preservatives, which keeps them healthy, delicious and natural for months. Scoop out a handful of dried berries, mix with your favorite yogurt, granola, muesli or sprinkle on a fruit salad. To enjoy these delicacies, berries must be properly dried.

Instruction

1. For drying ideal blueberry, black currant, raspberry, BlackBerry, strawberry and wild cherry. Sort berries and rinse them thoroughly in cold water. Collect only ripe, not too soft berries. Do not use fruits with spots, damage.
2. To preserve the color of the berries, treat it in a special way before drying. There are several ways to do this:
   1) 2 tablespoons of ascorbic acid dissolve in 1 liter of water, soak in a solution of the berries for 10-15 minutes.
   2) Cook honey syrup 3 cups water and 1 Cup sugar. Heat and add 1 Cup of honey. Mix well.
   3) Treat the berries with juice from a mixture of 1 liter of pineapple juice, 1 liter of warm water and ¼ Cup of lemon juice.
   In any of these compounds , the berries should be soaked a small amount of time. After treatment do not wash it with water.
3. Pour berries in a single layer on a baking sheet, previously covered with two layers of cheesecloth or cotton towel. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees, leave the oven door open so the steam could come out of the oven. Periodically check the berries and turn them. The fruit should be dry, not elastic. You will need up to 10 hours of drying in this mode.
4. You can dry the berries in the following way: put them in large open pots and put in a warm, dry, well ventilated room, for example, in the attic. Stir one or two times a day for 10 days. The berries dry out for 2 weeks.
5. If you are going to store berries for a long time, you can pasteurize them to kill all the insect larvae. On the final stage of freeze drying the berry for a few days in the freezer or heat up to 175 degrees in the oven for 10-15 minutes. These methods are used for drying the damp berries and dried fruit with the already introduced bugs.
6. Put the dried berries in dense packing, container or jar with a glass lid and store in a cool, dark place. In the refrigerator to store dried fruit only in the summer and in a very sealed package, as it's way too humid for them and the dried fruit can absorb foreign flavors.