Harvesting strawberries for the winter in an electric dryer
The sweet summer berry is most often rolled up in the form of compote or jam. However, if the farm has such a miraculous kitchen technique as an electric dryer, the process of harvesting strawberries for the winter can be approached not so traditionally.
Using a dryer, it is easy and simple to prepare from berries:
- dried fruits;
- marshmallow.
The berries must be pre-prepared: rinse well and remove the tails. Select undamaged strawberries separately for drying, and slightly crumpled berries can be used to make marshmallows.
How to make dried strawberry fruits?
Whole, clean berries must be carefully cut into slices no more than 1 cm thick.Then lay strawberries into the dryer on mesh trays, while this should be done as tightly as possible in order to dry more berries at a time.
In a large dryer of 15 pallets, you can dry about 6 kg of fresh berries at a time (on average 400 g per pallet). And already ready-made strawberry dried fruits from this number of berries will come out 10 times less.
Depending on the thickness of the chopped berries, the drying process will take 4 hours or more (the thicker the slices, the longer they dry). The finished dried fruit will bend, but not break, and no moisture should remain in it. It is better to store dried strawberries in jars under a lid in a dark place.
Drying berries is recommended at a temperature of 45 degrees. A higher temperature leads to the death of nutrients.
Features of cooking strawberry marshmallow
Since the berries should be chopped to prepare the marshmallow, you can also use crushed strawberries, the main thing is that it is not completely sour or rotten.
On average, 200 g of sugar is enough for 1 kg of strawberries, but if desired, its amount can be increased or decreased. This is already a matter of taste.
The process of making strawberry marshmallows itself is as follows:
- Pour berries into a blender.
- Add sugar.
- Grind until puree.
- Lubricate the tray (pallet) with fresh bacon (so that the marshmallow lags well behind).
- Pour the puree mass into a tray (no more than 400 ml) and smooth with a spoon so that it evenly covers it.
- Set the dryer to 65 degrees.
In order for the pastille to turn out elastic and curl well, it must be dried for about 25 hours. It is recommended to store the finished product in a container under a lid.