How to dry unpeeled nuts at home. When and how should almonds be dried? How to understand that the nut is dry? How to dry walnuts at home

When purchasing nuts in a store, the buyer cannot be sure of the high quality of the product. The best way- prepare fresh nuts from the tree in the fall. You can store the product different ways by subjecting it to preliminary processing. One of the simplest types of processing is drying cedar and walnuts in the oven. But in order not to overdry the kernels, you need to know the basic rules for drying this tasty and nutritious product.

Basic moments

For drying, it is necessary to select healthy, ripe fruits... If you select unripe nuts, the kernels will lose most of their moisture as they dry out and become tasteless. Therefore, it is important to choose ripe fruits. Nuts should be chopped, fruits selected according to size and degree of ripeness. Wash the kernels thoroughly, dry on a napkin.

We spread walnuts of the same size on a clean dry baking sheet, and send them to the oven at a temperature of 45 degrees. Do not raise the temperature significantly, as the kernels will dry out and lose their taste.

How much to dry nuts in the oven? It is optimal to dry the kernels for 2-3 hours. In order for moisture to evaporate from the product faster, it is recommended to open the cabinet door slightly. 10-15 minutes before the end of the recommended drying time, you can increase the temperature to 70 degrees. To make sure the product is ready, you need to try one of the nucleoli. It should break easily and crumble slightly.

Before sending the product for storage, remove the nuts from the oven and leave in a baking sheet at room temperature... Not recommended walnuts send hot for storage. The nut butter will give an unpleasant bitter taste from high temperatures. Drying walnuts in the oven is necessary in small portions to maintain the high quality of the kernels.

Drying pine nuts

To dry pine nuts, they must first be removed from the shell. For drying, you can choose one of the following methods:

• Electric drying.
• In the oven.
• In a frying pan.
• Spread out on a clean cloth and place in the sun.
• In the attic.

Convenient and fast way, is the use of an electric dryer. Having decomposed the kernels removed from the shell on specialized trays, you just need to select the appropriate mode and start the device. However, not every housewife has an electric dryer at her disposal. Therefore, you can choose another suitable method.

Pine nuts can be dried in the same way as walnuts in a pan or in the oven. At what temperature to dry nuts in the oven? The optimal temperature regime is 120 degrees. Considering that pine nuts are small in size, they need to be dried no longer than half an hour. As in the case of walnuts, pine kernels, after drying in the oven, must be removed from the oven and cooled at room temperature.

If it is not possible to dry the kernels in the oven, you can lay them out in the sun, having previously spread a clean cloth. For townspeople, it is recommended to use a balcony or loggia, which receives a sufficient amount of sunlight. When using this method, do not forget about the variability of weather conditions. In case of rain, the nuts should be removed to the room, avoiding getting wet.

Summing up

One of the convenient ways to store nut kernels is to dry them. The most suitable option is drying in the oven. In order to qualitatively dry the kernels of a walnut or pine nut, it is necessary to peel them from the shell. Then rinse them under running water, dry on a napkin and spread in small portions on a baking sheet.

The optimum temperature for drying is 200 degrees for walnuts and 120 degrees for cedar kernels.

Nuts are a source of beneficial polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, trace elements. In order to preserve this wealth, nuts must be stored properly. Learn how to dry nuts at home in this article.

How to dry nuts at home

What is needed for drying

There are several types of proper drying of nuts, it is worth choosing the most suitable for your conditions. Depending on the method, choose the appropriate inventory:

• a device for cracking nuts (if there is no special nutcracker, stock up on a bottle of champagne and a hammer);
• baking sheet;
• pan;
• glossy paper;
• kitchen spatula;
• drying harvester (if available);
• microwave;
• if the nuts will dry naturally, a clean cloth and gauze will be needed.

All devices are simple and can be found in the kitchen of every housewife.

We prepare raw materials

After the nuts are harvested, you need to peel them off. Then they are laid out in a thin layer and allowed to lie down for a while.

Drying in shells can be done, but this method requires a lot of storage space. It is more convenient to dry the kernels. For this we chop nuts special device... If not, place the nut, seam side up, on the neck of the champagne bottle and tap lightly. This method allows you to crack nuts quickly, leaving the kernels intact. The raw materials are ready, we proceed to drying.

How to dry nuts

In the presence of a drying combine, we put the kernels in the compartments for raw materials, set the temperature to no more than 90 ° C, dry for about 5 hours.

In natural conditions, those who live in a private house can afford drying. This will require a clean cloth and a well-ventilated, sunny location. Nuts are laid out in one layer on a cloth and placed in the sun. Turn your crop several times throughout the day. Thus, it will take about a week to lay out and turn the nuts.

Before drying the nuts in the oven, it is necessary to preheat it to 150 ° C. Spread glazed paper on a baking sheet and arrange the nuts in one layer. Dry for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Buying a walnut from a large supplier, distributor or just a trader in the market, every inexperienced and sometimes experienced walnut grower runs the risk of acquiring a "pig in a poke". We are talking about the fruits or kernels of a walnut of inadequate quality, which at one time succumbed to improper drying and did not comply with the conditions for their storage. It is worth noting that the quality of the product and even its shelf life depend on the method of drying the walnut. Many believe that the quality of the nut and its appearance depend only on the degree of ripeness, that is, if the walnut was picked unripe, then it will not be tasty and of high quality, even after proper drying. We know that the quality of a nut depends on the way it is dried.

Drying of walnuts is preceded by such a stage as collection, and we will tell you when you need to collect walnuts for their subsequent drying.

When is it necessary to harvest the nut for drying?

Anyone who has seen how a walnut grows knows that it ripens in a green peel. Note that on the treewalnut fruits ripen unevenly. First, the fruits ripen, which are closer to the ground and they must be picked first so that they do not absorb moisture from the ground and do not deteriorate on the branches. A sign that a nut is ripe is a cracked green rind, and if it falls from a branch to the ground, it is a sign that the nut is fully ripe. Such a ripe walnut is processed first and immediately sent to drying.

Thus, you need to collect nuts:

• when they hit the ground;
• when the green pericarp is cracked;
• when it's time to harvest (even if some of the fruits are not cracked, they should be shaken off the tree and started peeling and then drying, and in no case left on the branches "until the last", otherwise a very good nut fruit may deteriorate and you just lose it).

As practice shows, large industrial farms that have large walnut orchards at their disposal begin to harvest their crops a little earlier than those who own one or two trees and use the harvested harvest for household needs or small sale. Depending on the size of the walnut processing plant, the method of drying the walnut is also knocked out.

The natural way to dry walnuts in the sun

The easiest and most common drying method, but it is not suitable for everyone. Most often, this method is used by small subsidiary farms or private sellers of walnuts in small batches. For example, the owners of a summer cottage grow 2-3 trees in their garden, collect a small crop, but are oriented towards sale. For them, drying walnuts in the sun is an ideal and not at all costly option. Also, this method is suitable for the owners of 1 tree, who harvest for their needs.

For drying in the sun, choose any place on the site where the sun's rays fall throughout the day, lay a tarpaulin or other waterproof fabric and lay the walnut in one layer.

In the event of force majeure situations - if forecasters predicted the sun and heat, but in fact it started raining, the walnut can be transferred to the attic. In this case, it is worth remembering to create the proper conditions, namely:

The attic should be warm, like in the sun - 27-31 ° C;

It must be dry, otherwise the nuts can dry for weeks, or become moldy and damp;

There must be ventilated air - stagnant air will cause the nut to deteriorate rather than dry out. A well-ventilated drying area is essential.In the apartment, the nuts can be dried directly on the newspaper, but there must be access to fresh air to the drying place.

Benefits of sun drying	Disadvantages of sun drying
The best way for small volumes	Risk of getting wet if the weather suddenly deteriorates
Does not require a lot of time and resources, both material and financial	Requires at least 5 days of drying, if the days are very hot and sunny with low air humidity, and depending on other climatic conditions, the drying process can be delayed
Can be used on any sunny and dry day	Not profitable for large walnut processing enterprises, although it could be one of the savings items for them
In small batches, the nuts are easy to pick or cover in case of rain

Drying walnuts in dryers is a great way for large businesses

If you process nuts in large batches and are a large manufacturing enterprise, then sun drying walnuts is extremely risky for your business. The best option for drying large batches is the artificial method (fire), which is carried out using the so-called special dryers.

The principle of operation of the dryer is simple - powerful fans are installed in it, which direct hot air especially to the fruits of the walnut and dry it simultaneously from all sides. In order for the walnut to dry out as correctly as possible, it is necessary to create temperature conditions of 55-56 ° C.

Advantages	disadvantages
Fast drying - walnuts can be dried well in just 2 days	The need to carefully monitor the temperature in dryers
Can be used in any weather and season	Dryers need to be purchased, and this is an additional financial cost
An irreplaceable option for drying large quantities of walnuts	They can fail at the most inopportune moment and the drying process will be delayed.
Requires a minimum of physical effort from a person	Requires attention from a person

No matter how many shortcomings there are in the fire drying method, this is the only correct and effective method quick drying of large batches of walnuts, which is most acceptable for business.

Home drying is a way to dry a nut in the oven or microwave

In addition to the natural drying of walnuts in direct sunlight, you can often find the use of such a method as drying in the oven. Note that using this method, you can dry even medium batches of walnuts at home.

The first step in drying is to select the ripe fruit. Then, put all the selected fruits in the shell on a baking sheet and put in a preheated oven. It should be heated up to 90 ° C, and the nuts should be dried for about 2-2.5 hours, depending on the size.
In the option of drying without the shell, the nuts are placed on a baking sheet covered with parchment and laid out so that the kernels do not touch each other. The oven is heated to 180 ° C, and every 10 minutes you need to stir or shift the kernels.
By simple mathematical calculations in 10 hours of work, you can dry 4-5 batches of inshell nuts, and if they are peeled, then, with good productivity, you can process 1-2 bags.This method will be effective for small businesses and households where walnuts dried for household needs.

Another way to dry your nuts at home is to use the microwave. The first step is to peel the nuts, separate the kernels, spread in one layer into any shape that can be placed in the oven, and set for 7-8 minutes. The microwave power must be at least 750 W. You will get dry and tasty kernels from the oven. This method is quick and inexpensive in terms of physical effort, but, unfortunately, it can dry very few nuts in one go.

And finally, the method by which the drying will be performed is chosen based on the following points:

1. The scale of batches of walnuts for subsequent processing.
2. The climatic conditions of the region where it will succumb to drying.
3. Whether the owner expects to save money and physical effort or not.
4. The presence of a tool for performing drying.

Walnut processing technological process: Walnut drying. How to dry nuts:

Many people love walnuts, but not everyone knows how to dry walnuts. This nut combines many vitamins that are not even found in all berries and fruits, and there is more protein than meat.

In order to collect already ripe nuts, containing all useful substances, while not giving it to proteins and birds, you should know when the nut is ripe.

• The shell of a green shade begins to crack;
• The leaves on the tree take on a yellow tint;
• The fruit itself should be hard, brown in color, and the inside of the nut should be moist and heavy.

Another important factor in the ripening of the walnut tree is its variety. If the tree begins to bloom in the spring, then ripening will last until the end of summer or the first half of September. And the trees, which began to bloom only at the beginning of summer, will ripen in October.

Features of drying walnuts

At what temperature are walnuts dried?

The main ingredients for drying walnuts are temperature and air circulation. In order for the nut to dry quickly, a temperature of fifty-seven degrees is considered the best. If the temperature regime is violated, and the nuts are dried at more than sixty-two degrees, then they will lose everything. beneficial features, and become tasteless.

How to dry walnuts at home?

If, after being harvested, the nuts must be stored for a long time, then they should be dried.

On your own, this can be done as follows:

1. Natural drying method - in the sun, or in a dry warm room.
2. Artificial drying method - in special electrical appliances: microwave oven, oven, electric dryer.

The second option copes much better with drying, the nuts dry faster than naturally. In this case, the weather is also not important, the only drawback is the volume of nuts that can be laid in one batch.

Outdoors

To dry the nuts in the fresh air, follow the steps below.

In the sun

1. Find an empty piece of land that is under the sun and place a cloth on it that does not get wet.
2. Nuts, pre-selected and without a greenish film, are laid out in one layer on a waterproof fabric.
3. We leave the fruits to dry for several days; in sunny weather, the drying time is up to five days.

Before the advent of artificial drying methods, nuts were dried in this way for centuries. The main disadvantage of this method is the weather conditions, which can deteriorate sharply.

In room

So that no weather interferes with the drying of the nuts, they are dried indoors, for example, in the attic:

1. The fruits must first be cleaned of the pericarp.
2. We arrange the nuts by size, and rinse one by one under cold water.
3. The crop is laid out on a trellised surface and removed to a place where fresh air enters.

If there are not many nuts, then they can be dried on the floor on newspapers in the house. But do not forget to constantly ventilate.

How to dry walnuts in the oven?

In the oven, the fruits can be dried both in the shell and without it. If you are going to dry without the shell, then the first thing to do is to remove it and leave only the middle. Next, the fruits are laid out on a sheet and put in a previously heated oven at fifty degrees. Thus, we leave the nuts for thirty to forty minutes, stirring occasionally.

To avoid condensation, the oven door does not need to be closed completely, and even in this case, drying will take less time. So that the nuts do not taste bitter, you should adhere to the specified temperature.

To dry the nuts in the shell, the oven does not need to be preheated to the maximum temperature so that the nuts do not boil and burn.

Stick following tips, and the nuts are perfect:

• Rinse the fruits under cold water and dry;
• Then put the nuts in one layer on a sheet;
• The oven heats up to forty-five degrees;
• We put the baking sheet in the oven for three hours;
• The oven door must be ajar;
• After two and a half hours, the oven temperature rises to sixty degrees;
• If the nuts are well dried, then the shell will crack easily;
• In order for the fruits to dry completely, they should be removed from the oven and left in the air;
• If the kernel remains soft and stringy, then the nuts are not dry and should still be placed in the oven.

Reference. When drying nuts in shell, temperature oven should not be higher than seventy degrees.

Microwave drying

If there are very few fruits, then they can be dried in microwave oven... For this, a small hole is made in each nut. Then the fruits are laid out on the microwave circle, not tightly to each pile with holes towards the top. We set the maximum temperature and turn it on several times for one minute, until the nuts are completely dry.

Drying in an electric dryer

The fruits are washed, laid out on pallets and dried for about five to six hours, periodically the nuts should be turned over. If the load is minimal, then it should be checked when ready.

Storing nuts

In order to keep the nuts as long as possible, and they have not lost all their useful properties, you should approach this stage correctly. Finished nuts are folded into baskets or bags in a net and put away in a cool dark place, or freeze altogether. At proper storage the fruits will be fresh for more than two years.

Is an important point further preservation of the quality of the kernel, which affects the future commodity price of the product. In this article, we will find out how to dry in in various ways and at home, and also consider all the nuances of storing prepared raw materials.

When is the best time to collect

As soon as the harvest is close to ripening, squirrels and a variety of squirrels begin to hunt for it. In order to prevent the loss of nuts, and at the same time keep all the useful and nutritional properties, you should pay attention to the signs by which you can determine the necessary ripening phase:

• cracked green shell;
• woody foliage began to turn yellow;
• a fully mature fruit has a hard light brown shell, and the kernel inside it should be moist and palpable by weight.

The variety of nut grown is also important. Trees that bloom in spring ripen by the end of summer to mid-September, while flowering nuts begin to ripen only by early October.

How to dry walnuts

In fact, drying walnuts in the shell, at home, as usual, is not at all difficult, you just need to follow some simple rules. How to properly carry out this process in various proven ways, including in the oven and in, read on.

Outdoors

Drying nuts in the fresh air involves the gradual implementation of the following stages:

In sunny weather:

1. On the free one, you need to spread any waterproof fabric, for example, a tarp.
2. Further, the fruits, selected and peeled from the green film, are evenly laid out on the laid fabric, always in one layer.
3. Now the nuts need to be left to dry in the open sun for several days. Drying will take only 3-5 days in good weather.

This is the method that agronomists used for many years, until more modern methods appeared in the world. Its main disadvantage is the possibility of unexpected precipitation and a sharp drop in air temperature.

In room:

Walnut fruits can be dried even indoors without fear of adverse weather conditions. For this, as a rule, an attic is usually chosen:

1. The harvested crop is cleared of the pericarp.
2. Each nut is sorted by size and washed in cool water.
3. Then the raw materials are laid out on racks with a grate, which must be supplied with fresh air.

If the harvest of nuts is small, the entire harvest can be dried in the apartment, after spreading newspapers on the floor. In this case, one should also not forget about the fresh air.

In the oven

Details on how dryand thoroughly roast the walnuts in the oven, looks like that:

1. The fruit, previously peeled from the green peel, must be sorted by size, washed and blotted from excess moisture with a clean towel.
2. Not forgetting at what temperature you need to dry the nuts (this is 40-45 ° C), select fruits of the same size, put them on a baking sheet and place them in the oven.
3. Drying should last no more than 3 hours, while the oven door should be slightly ajar.
4. After the appointed time, the temperature should be raised to 70 ° C and the nuts should be kept in the oven for about half an hour.
5. At the end of the process, hot foods must be removed from the oven and left in the air until they cool completely.

Important!The oven can be heated much more than 45 ° C, but at higher temperatures the product can become overcooked, oily and tasteless.

In an electric dryer

If there is a special device in the house, the process of drying nuts is greatly simplified. But even here it is necessary to follow the instructions attached to the device and constantly pay attention to the degree of readiness of the products.

The procedure itself usually takes only 5 hours, but the number of fruits should be minimal, otherwise they will have to be dried in several approaches.

How to check readiness

To check the readiness of dried walnuts, you should split the shells of at least two fruits and check their kernels... If they are "rubbery" and wet, the rest of the nuts will need to be dried additionally. Otherwise, even with the right conditions storage, they can rot and become moldy. If the nucleoli have become fragile and have a thin skin, they are completely dry and ready for consumption or sale.

Storing walnuts at home

In the future, it is important to preserve the prepared foods in such a way that they do not lose all their useful components and nutrients in the process. To do this, dry fruits are placed in baskets or mesh bags and stored darkened in a fairly cool place (for example, in a cellar). You can also expose them. Under the right conditions, food will remain fresh for at least two years.