How to make prunes at home

Prunes, exhibited on the shelves of grocery stores, looks beautiful and brilliant. But often for this brilliance there is no naturalness. In order to give the dried fruit a similar appearance, an unscrupulous manufacturer treats them with gray or liquid smoke and covers them with a thin layer of wax or glycerin. The benefits of such a product is small, moreover, it is not cheap. Therefore, good housewives have long learned how to cook prunes on their own. After all, in the summer, in the fruitful year, the plum can be bought very cheaply. Cooking does not take much time and effort. Therefore, by applying very little effort, you can provide yourself and your family with a useful and tasty product for the whole winter.

Prunes are very useful for the human body. It is actively used in the fight against constipation and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Prune cleanses the intestines effectively, but gently.In addition, prunes after drying retains all the nutrients and vitamins that were contained in the plum. But how to prepare the product so that it remains useful, safe, and preserved until spring?

The recipe for cooking natural prunes

In this recipe, nothing extra, just drain. Such prunes are suitable for people who adhere to the rules of healthy eating. Let's start cooking natural treats.

1. Dried prunes best of plum variety "Hungarian". In this case, you will receive a product as close as possible to the store. Although, in fact, prunes can be cooked from any plum, even round.
2. Fruits for drying should be ripe, but moderately hard and fleshy. If you buy a plum, pay attention to the pulp is easily separated from the stone. For drying, choose only strong fruit without wormholes. Sluggish and shriveled plums should be put aside.
3. Some are trying to get rid of the whitish plaque on the surface of the fruit. In order for the plum to last for a long time, it really should be washed off. However, this is not easy to do, so we will soak the fruit in alkaline water.Dissolve a little soda in a basin (a teaspoon per three liters of water) and dip the drain into the solution. After a while, it will be easy to clean and rinse under running water.
4. It is better to dry fruits without stones. Small plums can be left with a bone, but in winter you have to be very careful not to spoil the tooth on the unsung stone.
5. After removing the seeds, the fruit should be cut in half. In the form of halves dry them much easier.
6. The next stage is blanching. Put a pot of water on the fire and bring it to a boil. Dip the halves of the drain into the water and wait 5-10 minutes. After that, remove the plums and immediately transfer them to cold (ice-cold) water. Remember, fruits should be soft, but elastic and not welded.
7. After that, put the halves on a baking sheet in a single layer and dry for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 60-80 degrees. In this case, slightly open the oven, so as not to overdry the product. Turn the halves of the sinks several times over.
8. When you get the plums, leave them for another day in a ventilated place - on the windowsill or on the balcony. Cover fruits with gauze to protect against insects. After a day, the plum can be removed for storage.

This is a simple recipe for natural plum.But there is another one that will definitely enjoy sweet tooths.

Sweet Prune Recipe

This is a recipe for sweet prunes, which will delight children.

1. Choose and prepare the fruit, as in the previous recipe. In this recipe, we remove the bone, but do not cut the plum in half. Let it remain whole.
2. Fill the plum with sugar in the ratio of 3: 1. That is, three kilograms of fruit will need one kilogram of sugar.
3. Plum, unlike other fruits and berries, doesn’t give up the juice, so you will have to wait for the valuable syrup. Leave the plum with sugar under a little oppression for a day and stir the mass regularly. Be careful not to damage the fruit.
4. When the syrup appears, put the pot on the fire and bring to a boil. It is very important that as soon as the drain begins to boil, it should be turned off so that the fruit does not boil. Stir the plum thoroughly to ensure that all fruits are covered with sugar syrup.
5. After that, the mass should cool down - at this time the fruit is even more actively saturated with sugar composition. After cooling down, pour the mass into a colander and let the drain drain.Then put the halves of the fruit on the parchment and send it to the oven. Dry plum should be at a minimum temperature of about 3-4 hours. High temperatures will accelerate the process, but the fruits will lose their vitamins and become useless.
6. After drying, let the cream dry completely at room temperature.
7. By the way, you do not need to pour out the sugar syrup. It is very fragrant and tasty. It can be used for liqueurs, syrup can be diluted with water and can be drunk as compote or used as a filling for pancakes.
8. Ready prunes should be dried, but rather elastic.

Such prunes can be used as a dessert or a filling for pies. Sweet prunes can be added to marinades for meat - it gives dishes a delicate sourish taste and fruity aroma. Leave the prunes in a vase on the table, and the children will gladly eat it instead of candy.

If the prunes are dried enough, they can be stored in a canvas bag in the kitchen box. If you doubt whether dried prunes are well dried and you expect it to be stored for a long time, freeze the dried fruits in the freezer. It is better to pre-decompose prunes into portions to thaw it was more convenient.

Summer is the time for harvesting, drying, cooking and making marinades. A good housewife will not only provide family with natural products, but also save the family budget. After all, the cost of homemade prunes is obtained 10 times cheaper than the dubious product that we find on the shelves of stores. Dry prunes, make preparations - and the winter will pass for you without monetary and vitamin losses!

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