How to properly dry grapes for the winter - preparing raisins at home

Tips for selecting and preparing raw materials

It should be noted that for these purposes it is better to purchase seedless grapes. Some experienced housewives recommend giving preference to sultanas. This variety is good because it has increased sugar content. In addition, it is small enough to reduce drying time. It is important that all fruits are ripe and have no visible damage. It should be noted that green varieties produce brown raisins, and dark varieties produce black ones.

Before drying grapes at home, they must be prepared. First you need to sort it, getting rid of all the spoiled berries. There is no need to tear them off from the cuttings. They will fall off on their own during the cooking process. Moreover, this will happen when the fruits are sufficiently dried. Before preparing raisins, the raw materials must be washed in cold water and dipped for a couple of seconds in a boiling soda solution prepared at the rate of half a teaspoon of the substance per liter of liquid.

Grape selection

For drying, seedless grape varieties are usually used. Berries can be large or small, light or dark. Dry fruits retain their taste, so raisins can be nutmeg, sweet and sour, or herbaceous and tart. It is recommended to dry grapes that are sufficiently ripe and undamaged. Whether it is worth preparing raisins with seeds is up to the housewife to decide.

Which varieties are suitable for the production of raisins:

To obtain high-quality drying, fresh grapes are reviewed and unusable material with dents, stains, and cracks is removed. The berries are washed and separated from large ones. Larger fruits are cut in half and the kernels are removed. Small berries are blanched, dipped in boiling water in a colander, removed from the water and dried.

Fabric bags are sewn to store products. However, they can harbor insects that can damage the product. Therefore, it is better to scatter the finished product into jars and seal it tightly. The drying material is periodically poured onto a baking sheet and taken out into the air.

Existing techniques

Today, there are several different ways to get homemade raisins. The simplest of them is drying using an electric dryer. Today this device can be purchased at any store specializing in the sale of household appliances.

For those who for some reason cannot afford such a purchase, we can recommend cooking raisins in a regular oven. True, here you need to be extremely careful so as not to spoil the product.

Those who are interested in how to dry grapes without using any household appliances can be advised to do it in the sun. However, this method has one significant drawback. The whole process takes quite a long time.

Recipes for the table and for treatment

The benefits of raisins for the human body have been proven; now you need to understand how to properly use this product. In order for the beneficial substances to be preserved as much as possible, it is better not to subject raisins to long-term heat treatment. Add it to porridge and fruit pilaf at the very end of cooking. When cooking compote, first put the fruits that need to cook for a long time into the pan, and a few minutes before the end of cooking, throw in the dried grapes. If your child doesn’t want to eat cottage cheese or rice, throw a few berries on the plate and the food will immediately become tastier.

If the child refuses to eat, make a figurine of a snowman, duck or other animal out of thick porridge, decorate it with raisins, and the baby will immediately develop an appetite.

Raisins will improve the patient’s well-being in any case. If you want to make the treatment more active, use traditional medicine recipes.

Pour 100 g of raisins with a glass of boiling water and let it brew for 10 minutes. Drain the liquid, add 1 tbsp. spoon of onion juice and drink 100g three times a day before meals.

For 8 parts of prunes, take 2 parts of dried apricots, raisins and cholosas and 1 part of hay. Grind everything, add 1 part honey and consume 1 tbsp morning and evening. spoon.

Steam a handful of raisins in boiling water for 5 minutes, then chop and add 1 tbsp. spoon of sour cream and honey. The duration of the procedure is 15 minutes.

Any dried fruits are good for the body; they supply a person with useful substances during the winter. The champion in the range and quantity of useful components is raisins; they are necessary for the heart, blood vessels and other organs. The benefit of raisins for men is the ability to prolong the period of sexual activity, and for women - in helping the body during pregnancy and lactation. It is better to choose black varieties, they have more vitamins and antioxidants. Think about which dishes can replace some of the sugar with dry grapes, and feed your family healthy food.

Read also: Top grape varieties for yourself: the best, champion varieties, disadvantages of types

In the attic

The berries, pre-sorted and treated with lime water, are placed on baking sheets lined with paper in advance. Then they are taken to the attic and left until the raisins are ready.

During the first five days, the paper is regularly changed and spoiled fruits are removed. After twenty-two days, the finished product is transferred to clean containers and sent for further storage.

Which grapes are suitable for drying?

Most often, grapes that do not have seeds inside the berries are used for drying.

The berries themselves can be either small or large, dark or light. Due to the fact that the dry product retains the taste characteristics of a particular type of grape, raisins can be herbaceous-tart, nutmeg or sweet and sour. The following grape varieties are most often used for harvesting raisins:

• Nimrang;
• Muscat;
• Sultani;
• Katta-Kurgan;
• black, pink, white.

Did you know?
The first harvesting of raisins for the purpose of selling them began around 200–300 BC.
e. Historians cannot say for sure whether it was the Armenians or the Phoenicians who did this. But it is known that in Greece they later began to grow special grapes for this purpose with small berries that had no seeds, but at the same time had a strong and pleasant aroma. The variety was named “Korinka” in honor of the area where it was grown - Corinth. In order to get high-quality and tasty homemade raisins that can retain their beneficial properties for a long time, you need to properly prepare fresh grapes for harvesting. First of all, you should review and remove all unsuitable material, remove berries that have damage, dents, cracks, etc. It is also advisable to separate small and larger berries. The latter can be cut in half for easy drying.

In direct sunlight

This most primitive method was successfully used by our distant ancestors. However, it can only be used if the weather outside is sunny and dry. Raisins prepared using this method will have a matte surface with a waxy coating.

Before drying the grapes, they are laid out in a thin layer on paper and exposed to the sun's rays. In a month it will turn into raisins. Since it can rain outside at any moment, it is very important to provide the opportunity to hide the berries under a canopy so that moisture does not get on them.

How to do

There are several ways to dry grapes - choose the one that is most convenient for you.

Under the sun

The method is slow, but simple. There is no need to wash the bunches first, but you need to sort them out, remove leaves and spoiled berries. The drying time depends on the temperature outside, the length of daylight, the size of the berries and many other factors. On average, it will take 2-3 weeks to get ready-made raisins.

• You can spread out or hang the grapes directly on the bunches. But make sure they are not too heavy and the top berries won't crush the bottom ones.
• You can also carefully remove the fruits from the bunches and sort them by eye by size - into large, small and medium. Next, they are laid out on trays or shallow boxes, previously lined with parchment paper.

The grapes are dried in a warm place with low humidity, good ventilation and direct sunlight. Once every 2-3 days, the berries must be turned over so that they warm up evenly.

Please note: provide protection for drying grapes from birds and insects, for example, in the form of a mosquito net.

In the shadow

Raisins obtained in this way will come out softer and juicier inside than if they were dried in the sun. There will be no difference in taste or nutritional value.

To dry grapes in the shade, you need to prepare a dry room with very good ventilation - for example, an attic or a spacious veranda, open on 2-3 sides, are suitable. There, under the ceiling, you need to stretch thin but strong ropes. There are several ways to attach bunches to them:

• For thick brush stems, place them on wire hooks.
• Attach one at a time with clothespins.
• Tie two hands tightly by the legs and throw them over the ropes.

The period for drying grapes in the shade is from 2-3 weeks to 1-2 months. During this time, the brushes should be inspected a couple of times a week and, if necessary, those berries that have begun to deteriorate should be removed.

Interesting: raisins and other dried fruits are traditionally prepared in the shade in Central Asian countries. There, special spacious rooms with perforated walls for good ventilation are built for these purposes.

In the oven

If you don’t have time or opportunity to dry grapes naturally, use this method. It will allow you to prepare raisins quickly enough, in just 1-2 days.

1. The grapes need to be prepared - washed with cool water and allowed to drain off excess moisture.
2. The next step is to remove the fruit from the bunches and remove any spoiled grapes.
3. Next, prepare a solution for processing - use a teaspoon of baking soda per liter of boiling water. This mixture will thin the waxy coating on the berries and kill bacteria.
4. The grapes are soaked in the resulting liquid for 5-10 minutes, after which they are washed again with water and dried well.
5. Then the berries are placed on a baking sheet with parchment paper and dried in the oven until ready. The optimal temperature is 50-60⁰C. From time to time, it is advisable to open the oven door slightly to allow excess moisture to escape.

Exactly how long it will take depends on the design of the oven, the variety and size of the berries and other factors. By cooking the raisins a couple of times yourself, you will experimentally determine the optimal drying time.

Tip: after every 4-5 hours of drying, you can turn off the oven for a couple of hours to allow the berries to cool. This will ensure they cook more evenly.

In an electric dryer

The berries are prepared in the same way as for the oven. They are washed, sorted, soaked in soda, washed again with water and allowed to dry. Next, the grapes are laid out in an even layer on the grates of the device and begin to dry at a temperature of 50-60⁰C.

Every 3-4 hours the dryer is turned off, the racks are swapped to ensure uniform drying, and the berries that have already turned into raisins are removed. The cooking time will depend on the power of the dryer and the characteristics of the grapes themselves.

And in this video you will learn how raisins are prepared in an industrial environment:

Accelerated technology

To reduce the cooking time for raisins, you just need to know one little secret. Before drying the grapes, they are dipped in a boiling soda solution. Thanks to this little trick, you will not only significantly reduce the time the berries are exposed to sunlight, but will also make the waxy coating disappear.

In addition, during this processing, microscopic cracks form on the surface of the grapes, through which air passes and excess moisture evaporates. Berries that have been in a soda solution are washed in running cold water, laid out on paper and sent under the sun.

Summary

• Only whole, healthy and fully ripened grapes can be dried.
• For preparing raisins, sweet varieties with medium-sized berries are optimal.
• You can dry the grapes naturally - in the sun or in the shade in a well-ventilated space.
• Faster drying is also possible - in an oven or electric dryer at a temperature of 50-60⁰C.

Raisins and sultanas can be easily purchased throughout the year. However, it’s better to prepare this tasty and healthy delicacy with your own hands, especially when housewives have an electric dryer. Why is it profitable to harvest dried grapes? It is stored for a long time and is suitable not only for direct consumption in its natural form, but also for improving the taste of many dishes.

By the way, raisins are dried grapes with seeds, and sultanas are dried grapes without seeds. There are certain varieties of grapes intended for making raisins and sultanas, but almost any variety can be dried in a dryer, as long as it is table and sweet.

Ingredients:

Ripe grapes.

Is it possible to dry grapes in an electric dryer?

This is the question that interests many modern housewives who are forced to combine housekeeping with building a career. Of course you can! And even necessary. This method saves a lot of time and effort.

Ripe whole berries that are free of rot and other visible damage are carefully selected from pre-washed bunches. The grapes are placed tightly on trays and placed in the device. Then activate the “Drying fruits and berries” mode and set the timer for four hours.

After this time, turn off the equipment and let the berries stand for a while. After a couple of hours, you can repeat the procedure. Those who want to figure out how to dry grapes in an electric dryer should remember that this is done in several approaches. After a four-hour stay in the switched on device, the berries are left for 120 minutes.

It should be noted that the duration of the process largely depends on the type, size and consistency of the raw materials used. On average it is about a day. There is no moisture in the finished product at all. It takes on the shape of a raisin and becomes sticky to the touch.

Grape raisins in halves

If you have a lot of large grapes with seeds, why not make raisins from them into halves. When cut, raw materials dry faster. If the final product is hard, it is softened immediately before use.

How to make raisins from grapes in halves:

1. The berries are removed from the bunches and the rubbish is selected.
2. Each fruit is cut lengthwise. The bones are removed or left.
3. The halves are placed cut side up on baking sheets or mesh trays.
4. In stable sunny weather, the workpiece is dried outside for 7–10 days. Grapes dry out faster in a dryer or oven.

The quality of raisins, regardless of the cooking recipe, is checked as follows. Throw a few dry grapes and note whether they fall with a quiet thud.

No one can refuse the taste of the raisins of fresh grapes. This aroma and delicate taste can amaze any gourmet. What can we say about the benefits of grapes? But dried grapes are no less tasty.

We must pay tribute - raisins are considered the most popular delicacy all over the world. It is added to baking creams, dough, salads... And what flavor does raisins give to meat? Therefore, it occupies a place of honor in cooking. It is also important that properly dried grapes are able to retain all microelements and 80% of vitamins. It is recommended for diseases of the cardiovascular system, it is an excellent helper for anemia, copes well with apathy and improves vision. But you need to know how to dry it correctly so that it has all the properties described above and can retain all the beneficial substances in its composition.

Tasty, healthy and aromatic raisins can be easily prepared at home. For this purpose, you can use several methods: under the sun, in the oven, in an electric dryer, in the shade.

It is important to know!

If you want to prepare homemade sultanas for the winter, you should prepare seedless grape varieties. Small-seeded varieties are ideal for making homemade aromatic raisins.

Under the sun

The simplest and long-proven method is drying grapes under the sun. It is ideal for those who have this healthy berry growing on their property.

Prepare a thick lattice or piece of plywood and place the berries in a single layer.

Cover with a layer of gauze on top - it will protect the berries from a sudden gust of wind, which often spoils us on autumn days.

Place the grapes in the sun and dry them until they turn a dark amber color with a waxy tint. Ready raisins should be soft.

In the oven

Before you start drying grapes in the oven, carefully select whole and fleshy berries with thick skins.

Place them on a baking sheet and place in the oven preheated to 55°C.

Periodically open the oven door to evaporate moisture and stir the berries on the baking sheet.

The last day is to dry the grapes at a temperature of 35° C.

In an electric dryer

The duration of the process of drying grapes in an electric dryer is reduced to 12 hours.

Gently rinse the grapes under running water. Try not to damage the integrity of their skins so that the juice does not leak out during the cooking process.

Dry the berries with a towel and place them on electric dryer trays in one layer.

Dry the grapes with “intermissions” - 3 hours drying, 2 hours rest.

As a result, you will get beautiful amber-colored dried fruits.

Boiling water or lye

An interesting method of drying grapes, which will allow you to present delicious sultanas or aromatic raisins, will reduce cooking time and make the process itself more interesting.

Pour boiling water or an alkaline solution over freshly selected whole grapes.

Immediately rinse the berries with cold water.

Spread in one layer and place in the shade to dry. After 3 days, you will have dried berries, which you can sprinkle with sugar and put in jars.

But if you mix them and leave them for another 3-4 days, you will get raisins - that long-awaited and delicious dried fruit that you have been dreaming of.

It is often practiced to dry whole bunches of grapes in the shade. To do this, they are hung on pre-tensioned ropes and dried in the shade until fully prepared.

How to dry grapes in the oven?

Ripe seedless berries are ideal for these purposes. They are carefully removed from the brushes, being careful not to damage them. Then the grapes are dipped in a soda solution for five seconds and laid out in one layer on a metal sieve or baking sheet. After that, they are sent to the oven and kept there for ten hours at 90 degrees.

After this time, the temperature is reduced to 70 °C and the process is continued, opening the door slightly.

Having figured out how to properly dry grapes, it should be noted that this will take about twenty hours. Raisins prepared in this way are sent to a cool place for three weeks or placed in hermetically sealed wooden boxes.

White grape raisins: recipe for cooking in an electric dryer

Modern housewives prefer to make raisins in vegetable dryers. Cooking time – 30 hours. Human intervention in the process is minimal. 1 kg of sorted berries will be used for white grape raisins.

Recipe:

1. Wash the bunches and let the water drain.
2. Pick the fruits off the clusters and place them in sections. Place the sections on top of each other. If one tray is empty, install it last.
3. The dryer is closed, the temperature is set to 58°C and the device is turned on for 15 hours.
4. The sections are rearranged in the reverse order and the unit is turned on for another 15 hours at the same temperature.
5. The product will be ready when the dryer turns off.

Alkaline method

To prepare raisins using this technology, you need to make a solution in advance consisting of:

• Twenty grams of potash.
• One liter of water.
• Ten grams of lime.

Then it is poured into a saucepan and sent to the stove. Before drying the grapes, they are dipped into a boiling alkaline solution for ten seconds and washed under cold running water.

If possible, the berries are fumigated with sulfur. Moreover, it is advisable to do this where drying will take place. For every four kilograms of grapes, one gram of sulfur is required. The clusters are hung in the attic or other shaded and well-ventilated area. Trays are placed under them into which the finished raisins will fall.

The benefits of raisin decoction for infants

The drink is useful for bottle-fed infants.
Children are often exposed to vitamin deficiency. Raisin decoction for babies does not cause allergic reactions. The drink strengthens the immune system and prevents ARVI, increases the body's resistance to any colds. B vitamins help in bone growth, strengthening the nervous system and are involved in intellectual development. Raisin decoction normalizes digestion and has a good effect on metabolic processes. In infants, the quality of blood improves, teeth and bones become stronger. Thanks to sodium, magnesium and calcium, muscles actively develop, especially the heart. Selenium contained in the decoction promotes normal liver function.

A drink made only from dried fruits can be given to infants up to 6 months, with a larger number of components (for example, a decoction of carrots and raisins) only from six months of age. To check for an allergic reaction, 1 tsp is initially given. drink

Alternative option

In this case, selected ripe and whole berries are subjected to preliminary alkalization. To prepare the solution you will need ten liters of water and forty grams of crystalline caustic soda. These components are mixed in one pan and sent to the stove.

Selected grapes are immersed in boiling liquid for a few seconds, then quickly removed and washed thoroughly in running cold water. After this, the berries are laid out on paper and left to dry. The grapes are turned over every three or four days.

What do the people of Central Asia do?

The indigenous population of the East most often uses the so-called shadow method. Before drying grapes for raisins, they are not kept in any solutions. Selected berry bunches are hung in special clay buildings, the walls of which have frequent holes that provide good ventilation.

Thanks to this, the fruits do not become damp and are constantly blown with fresh air. Grapes dried in the shade retain their natural shade. It is this technology for drying berries that is considered the most correct. Its use allows you to save the maximum amount of useful substances contained in them. In some cases, grapes are fumigated with sulfur wicks. This makes it possible to extend the shelf life of raisins.

Are raisins necessary for children?

The benefits of raisins for the human body are clear, but many mothers have a question about when they can be given to their baby. If there is no allergy, raisins can be given to children from one year old. While the baby is chewing poorly, cut each berry into small pieces. Do not accustom your baby to sweets and gingerbread; when he asks for something sweet, treat your child to dried fruits. Raisins, unlike sugar, do not destroy teeth, but strengthen them. Teach children to chew each berry for a long time and thoroughly so that the beneficial substances affect the oral cavity longer.

Read also: How to properly cover grapes for the winter so that they don’t freeze

When going for a walk, wash a handful of raisins and take them with you. If the child wants to eat, give him a few berries, they will perfectly satisfy his hunger. When playing on the playground, children are close to each other and can transmit infection. Dried grapes strengthen the immune system and the risk of disease is significantly reduced.