Drying apples in an air fryer: how to properly dry apples, croutons, mushrooms

Drying is a great way to prepare fruits, berries, vegetables and mushrooms for the winter. Just a few years ago, food had to be dried in the sun or in the oven, which is why fruits or mushrooms often turned out under-dried or, on the contrary, crumbled due to failure to maintain the correct temperature or humidity conditions. In general, there were many difficulties with drying. Now, drying food has become much easier - just buy a special dryer or convection oven. In an air fryer, pieces of fruit, mushrooms or apples are placed on a special grill. And the products are dried due to the hot air that enters the inside of the device. Hot air blows on the sliced products from all sides, drying them evenly. With such drying, fruits and other plant products retain most of their beneficial substances.

Features of using the “Drying” mode

Apples, berries and mushrooms are collected only in dry weather. You cannot go for harvest in the morning, as dew makes it wet. Fruits spoiled and damaged by insects are not suitable for drying.

If the apples are wet, they must be wiped with a dry cloth. And the rest of the products are dried on a paper towel. Drying begins at a minimum temperature, gradually switching to a higher one. During the process, the products are mixed for uniform drying.

Is it possible to dry unripe, green apples, white filling?

The first step on the path to drying is choosing a product. It is better to choose apples that are not stale, without an abundance of spoiled places
It is recommended to choose apples with thin skin and a small core. These apples will produce larger and better dried apples.
Among the varieties, it is better to choose sour varieties, since the taste of sweet apples is lost after drying. For example, varieties such as Antonovka and Aport are excellent for drying
White apples can also be dried. However, this is a variety of apples that spoils quickly. Therefore, they need to be dried immediately after harvesting. The advantage is that these are summer apples, you can dry them directly in the sun
Even unripe or green apples are suitable for drying. Dried fruits from them are more sour than from ripe fruits. Therefore, it is advisable to use them for preparing compotes

Which apples are suitable for drying?

How to deliciously and quickly cook champignons in an air fryer: 9 best recipes

Ingredients

Apples or pears – 500 g

Cooking steps

Rinse the apples. Dry with a towel.
Cut into equal slices.
Place the apples in the air fryer on all the racks at once.
Set the blowing speed to high and the temperature to 60°C.
After 10 minutes, switch to 120°C. Continue drying for 25 minutes.

Apricots

Ingredients

apricots – 500 g

Cooking steps

Rinse and dry the apricots completely.
Cut into halves. Place on air fryer rack. The parts must not touch each other.
Drying is carried out at maximum blowing speed. Temperature 60°C.
The time depends on the juiciness of the fruit and can range from 1.5 to 3 hours.

Plums

In addition to apples, you can dry plums in an air fryer, which will be no worse in quality than store-bought ones.
From 1 kg of fruit, only 200 g of dried product is obtained. Ingredients

plums – 1 kg

Cooking steps

Carefully remove the seeds, being careful not to damage the flesh.
Place on a wire rack.
Drying is carried out in several stages. First you need to turn on the timer for 40 minutes. Set the fan to maximum.
Leave for an hour to cool.
Repeat the process 3 times. Put it on paper.
The next day, dry it in a convection oven 3 times in the same way.

Drying apples for the winter in an electric dryer

The first, and perhaps the most important stage is preparing the fruit. If the apples are badly spoiled, it is better to remove the skin completely.
An electric dryer is a special apparatus for preparing dried fruits. In appearance it resembles a double boiler - several trays that are placed one on top of the other
In an electric dryer, apples are softer, but do not spoil during storage.
Place the pieces of fruit on trays, close the electric dryer and set the desired mode. As a rule, there is a mark on the electric dryer for cooking apples.
Set the time according to the instructions. Please note that a lot depends on the fruits themselves: their variety, size of pieces and degree of ripeness
For the first time, it is worth drying apples using the standard method - about 7-8 hours at a temperature of 70 degrees. And only then, experimentally, find the best ratio of time and temperature

To check the readiness of dried apple fruits, pay attention to their appearance. The pieces should be darkened and pliable, but the flesh should not be wet.

Electric fruit dryer

How to dry mushrooms and wilt tomatoes

Drying mushrooms is a simple way to harvest forest crops. A properly prepared product retains its nutritional and aromatic qualities for 2 years. Must be stored in a well-ventilated area. Porcini mushrooms are best suited for drying, but any other mushrooms can be prepared. Do not use specimens damaged by slugs and rodents. Remove debris using a damp cloth. You cannot wash the fruits.

Mushrooms

Ingredients

mushrooms – 700 g

Cooking steps

For large specimens, separate the stems from the caps and cut into portions. It is enough to cut small fruits in half.
Distribute on all grates at once in one layer, inserting them into the air fryer one at a time.
Place a skewer between the lid and the flask to drain moist air.
In the air fryer, turn on the temperature setting to 120°C. Select high blowing speed.
Drying should last one and a half hours.

How to dry tomatoes

Drying tomatoes in an air fryer takes much longer than apples.
Store in the refrigerator. Ingredients

small tomatoes – 1 kg
sea salt – 20 g
black pepper
dry basil – 3 g
dried rosemary – 3 g
olive oil – 70 ml
coriander – 2 g

Cooking steps

Wipe the washed tomatoes dry.
Cut in half lengthwise. If the pulp inside is juicy, remove the center with a spoon.
Distribute on racks. Sprinkle with herbs. Season with salt and oil.
Turn on the air fryer temperature to 120°C. The blowing speed is average.
Drying takes about 4 hours. The lid should be slightly open during cooking.
Place the prepared tomatoes for storage into a glass container and pour in vegetable or olive oil.

Advice! Do not dry mushrooms at high temperatures, otherwise they will burn or cake.

Preparing food in an air fryer is replacing our usual home preservation of food. This is very convenient - you don’t need to deal with boiling water, you don’t risk getting burned by boiling water and steam. In an air fryer, containers are sterilized thanks to hot air. The quality of sterilization in an air fryer is much higher than with traditional home preservation, because in an air fryer the boiling point of water itself is much higher, this occurs due to higher pressure.

With an air fryer, you can forget about how you initially cooked various salads, jams and other dishes in pans, and then put the finished product in jars for sterilization and storage. And in an air fryer you can cook salads and other preparations directly in jars, while sterilizing them. You don't have to sterilize empty jars in advance.

Let's look at the process of sterilization in an air fryer . To begin, rinse the jars thoroughly and place the prepared products in them. We send them to the air fryer. Then fill the jars with syrup or brine, covering them completely. Cover the jars with lids. Now you can set the necessary sterilization parameters and turn on the air fryer. Then we take out the jars and roll up their lids. You can additionally pasteurize the jars; to do this, put the jars back in the convection oven (the glass bulb of the oven remains warm for a long time). Don't turn over the jars! If you have the next batch of cans in line, use a regular warm blanket instead of a convection oven, wrapping it around the cans.

The main parameters of sterilization are temperature and time. The sterilization temperature must be at least 150 degrees Celsius. To increase heat transfer, start the program at 260 degrees, but be sure to remove the rubber gaskets from the lids before you place the jars on the grill. Or you can do it another way - get several lids for such cases, from which remove the rubber gaskets. You will only need such lids at temperatures above 150 degrees. And at the last moment it will be possible to replace these covers with the main ones, with rubber linings.

Sterilization begins from the moment bubbles begin to appear in the jars. The usual standard sterilization time is 15 minutes, with the enlarger ring installed - 20 minutes. Speed – high. Let's look at the process of making jam with sugar in an air fryer. To do this, sprinkle the selected and washed berries with sugar and let them stand for about 6 hours to release the juice and dissolve the sugar. The jars need to be rinsed thoroughly and the rubber bands removed from the lids. Now you can put the berries in sugar into jars and cover with lids. Next, we set the parameters on the convection oven - time 15 minutes (or 20 minutes if using an enlarger ring), temperature - 260 degrees, speed - high. Then we reduce the temperature to 120 degrees, keep it at the same speed for another 5 minutes so that the jam does not “run away”. Now you can take out the cans and roll them up. Then we send the jars back to the convection oven or, traditionally, into a warm blanket to cool. Let's look at the process of making sugar-free jam in an air fryer. First, we sterilize the pre-washed jars with lids. We set the parameters: time – 6 minutes, temperature – 180 degrees, speed – high. In the meantime, thoroughly wash the berries and let the water drain. Place the berries in sterilized jars and cover with lids, after removing the rubber gaskets. We set the parameters: time, for example, 20 minutes, temperature – 260 degrees, speed – high. We watch the berries, when they settle and give juice, open the lids and add another portion of berries. And so we continue until the jar is filled with berries covered with juice. Then we remove the cans from the air fryer, insert the rubber gaskets into place and roll them up.

Now let's look at , fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in an air fryer It is important to ensure that moist air leaves the air fryer. To do this, insert a skewer between the lid and the body. Optimal drying parameters: • speed: for greens - low, for carrots and beets - medium, for apples and mushrooms - high • temperature at which products retain color: 120 degrees • time: for greens - 10 minutes, for beets and carrots ( on a coarse grater) – 15 minutes, for apples – 30 minutes, for mushrooms – 1.5 hours

Tip: It is more convenient to dry products such as mushrooms, apples and leafy greens directly on the racks, and berries, beets and carrots - on a steamer.

An example of preparing dried apples and pears.

First you need to prepare the fruit. We wash them thoroughly and cut out the core, cut them into thin slices and place them on 3 racks. We set the parameters: time - 30 minutes, temperature - 120 degrees, speed - average. Keep the lid slightly open.

Winter preparations that can be prepared in an air fryer:

Winter vegetable preparations in an air fryer.

In this article you can find the following recipes:

lecho with tomato juice and carrots for the winter in a convection oven
cucumbers in a spicy marinade for the winter in an air fryer
pickled cucumbers with red currants for the winter in a convection oven
Mushroom caviar for the winter in an air fryer
eggplant caviar for the winter in a convection oven
Vegetable salad for the winter in an air fryer
pickled beets with black currants for the winter in an air fryer

Tomato preparations for the winter in an air fryer.

In this article you can find the following recipes:

tomatoes with onions and spicy marinade for the winter in a convection oven
tomatoes with fragrant leaves for the winter in an air fryer
small tomatoes in wine and honey for the winter in an air fryer
jelly tomatoes for the winter in an air fryer
tomato jam with walnuts for the winter in an air fryer

Gooseberry preparations for the winter in an air fryer.

In this article you can find the following recipes:

pickled gooseberries with spices in the air fryer
jam “Emerald” for the winter in an air fryer

Compotes and jams for the winter in an air fryer.

In this article you can find the following recipes:

plum compote for the winter in an air fryer
peach compote with honey for the winter in a convection oven
currants for the winter in an air fryer
zucchini jam for the winter in an air fryer
Cherry and zucchini jam for the winter in an air fryer
apricot jam for the winter in an air fryer
quince jam for the winter in an air fryer
raspberry jam for the winter in an air fryer
apple confiture for the winter in an air fryer
strawberry jam for the winter in an air fryer

Bread crumbs and croutons

In addition to apples, croutons come out delicious in the air fryer. Bread can be used fresh or slightly stale.

Crackers

Ingredients

loaf or white bread
spices
vegetable oil

Cooking steps

Place the air fryer to heat up.
Cut the loaf into slices.
Place large pieces on the grill, and put small pieces in the steamer.
Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with spices.
Cook at 260°C with high fan speed. Drying will take 6 minutes.

Croutons with cheese

Ingredients

white bread – 3 slices
butter – 15 g
cheese – 50 g
mustard – 10 g
light beer – 40 g
ground red pepper

Cooking steps

Mix grated cheese with mustard and beer. Sprinkle with pepper.
Melt the mixture in a preheated air fryer.
Spread the bread with butter, then with the cheese mixture.
Place on a wire rack. Drying will take 5 minutes on maximum air fryer mode.

How to prepare fruits for drying?

Preparing the fruit is half the success in obtaining high-quality dried apples.

Wash the fruits, remove all rotten and blackened areas
Then remove the core of the fruit
There is ongoing debate as to whether the skin needs to be removed. Some argue that harmful substances accumulate in the skin. But, if the apples are collected from the dacha and not purchased, then you can be sure of their quality and do not remove the skins
Then we cut the fruits into pieces or rings
Now the apples need to be treated with salt. This is necessary to prevent their damage and blackening. To do this, we make a solution: 10 grams of salt per 1 liter of water. Dip apples in this solution for 5 minutes
Now fruits can be turned into dryers. There are many methods for this, each of them has pros and cons

It is better to store prepared dried fruits in fabric bags. This way they won’t get moldy and pests won’t get to them.

Preparing apples for drying

Main conclusions

The process of drying food in an air fryer is simple and straightforward. Preparing apples and crackers takes the least time. The ideal temperature for fruits, vegetables and mushrooms is 120°C. During the drying process, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the products and deliver the finished items on time. During operation of the device, the lid must be slightly open so that unnecessary moisture can escape. To do this, place a skewer under it.

Tell us if you liked the proposed options for drying apples in an air fryer. What products do you prepare? Share your secrets.