There are so many reasons that summer is my favorite season: warm weather, long days full of sunshine, swimming, barbecues, flip flops, and abundant fresh produce. As with the first-mentioned method, they should first be washed, pitted, and dried. The fruit on the wire rack was done after about 6 hours, and the fruit on the baking sheet was done after 8 hours. Reconstituted dry cherries give a flavorful impact to pies, chocolates, or cocktails. Oven Drying. Allow 4 to 12 hours to dry the fruit. Freeze some cherries, make and can cherry chutney , and by all means make dried cherries at home – with no added sugar – and reap all the nutritional benefits of dried fruit. By the time they were done, the cherries had shrunk to the size of raisins and turned deep purple. Combine the 1/4 cup cherry juice and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan, and cook over medium heat until the sugar is mostly dissolved (it should be more liquid than granular), 2 to 3 minutes. In this post, we teach you how to try five different fruits that you can dry with your food dehydrator. Pitting is not an option here, as the sun will allow the pit to alter the taste of the cherry somewhat. Place fruit directly on racks or first spread 100 percent cotton sheet or cheesecloth over oven racks. Place the dried cherries into a colander and rinse in the sink. I've used a dehydrator in the past, but this year I decided to use the power of the sun to dry my fruit. Once they have been prepared, place pieces cut side up on baking trays (or dehydrator trays) and set in oven at 165° for about 3 hours. Test a few pieces to see if the batch is ready; Pot Drying We will teach you how to dry fruit in a dehydrator. I do not like traditional fruitcake, this is not that. Preheat oven to 145 degrees, propping door open with wooden spoon to allow steam to escape. Select fruit that is ripe—but not overripe—and free of bruises. Before we give you the detailed instructions of how to dry fruits in a dehydrator, let as give you a few good tips first. The cherries must be pitted before drying, you can do this by cutting each one in half and removing the seeds or keep them whole and using a pitter (makes the job quicker too). Add the cherries to the pot, and bring the mixture to a boil. I have already used some in a whole wheat fruitcake loaf with organic dates and dried apricots plus walnuts--very tasty. Food should be dry but pliable when cool. Sun drying fruit is cheap, doesn't require special equipment and is easy to do. At about the four-hour mark, we started to see signs of shriveling. If not already pitted, pit the cherries with a paring knife by slicing them in half and removing the pit. Beyond all this, drying fruit is a time-honored way of preserving fruit – especially fruits with relatively short seasons like cherries. You’ll need to keep a closer eye on them towards the end, and you definitely don’t want to … Then we popped the sheets in the oven and set the clock! Fresh apples, pears, peaches, berries, cherries, bananas and apricots are all good choices.Wash and peel the fruit (blueberries, apricots and cherries work best if dried whole). We try five different methods of pitting cherries, then dehydrate them in our new stainless steel Excalibur dehydrator. Make dried cherries in your oven, then keep them in an airtight container for a taste of summer, even in the winter! Are dried cherries just wrong for cherry cheesecake? So you probably don’t want to start a batch late in the afternoon, unless you don’t mind staying up until midnight or later til they get done. Drying fruit is a good way to use up extra fruit and is a delicious treat! These include apples, strawberries, bananas, peaches and melons. The other method of drying cherries is to let them naturally dry out in the sun. 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