Candied fruits are a great alternative to sweets. They can be made from apples at home, and this will be an excellent harvest for the winter. Candied apple fruits can be used as a treat for tea or used for baking, decorating cakes and other desserts.
What are candied fruits?
Candied fruits are fruits boiled in syrup (slices or whole). They are then subjected to a drying process in the sun, in an oven or dryer. Initially, this sweet was made from citrus peels, but now they use various fruits and berries, some vegetables. They include fiber, carbohydrates, healthy vitamins and minerals.
This method of preparation is usually not quick - it involves cooking the product in several stages with long gaps between them.
Did you know? Candied fruits were first cooked in the countries of the East in order to preserve fruits in hot climates. Merchants brought this product to Europe, and only rich people could afford to buy it.
Selection and preparation of ingredients
If you do not have apples, then buy this fruit for making candied fruits should be in season. It is better to opt for domestic fruits of sweet and sour varieties with dense pulp and a pleasant aroma. But in general, any fairly solid fruits will do. You can take a little unripe or sweets that have not gathered sweets, a scallop - it will turn out delicious anyway. Lack of sugar content compensates for sugar syrup, and sourness, aroma and taste can be added with citric acid and citrus. You can use spices if you wish.
Before you start making candied fruits, apples must be processed as follows:
- Sort and set aside rotten or soft specimens.
- Wash well with running water, then put on a towel and dry.
- Cut the fruit into several pieces. Thinner pieces will cook quickly. In small fruits, you can simply remove the middle with grains.
You should also stock up with powdered sugar, which will need to sugar apple slices.
Important! It is advisable to make apple slices about the same size so that they bake the same.
Recipes for making candied apples at home
There are different recipes for the production of candied fruit. Below are simple cooking options for this sweet step by step. In them, fruit pieces are dried in an oven or dryer.
Quick recipe
1 can per 1 liter 30 min. / 18 h.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Peel the washed apples and cut into slices. You can use special devices for curly cutting and give the fruit the shape of stars, hearts, rhombuses.
- Boil the water in a saucepan and toss the sliced fruit into it. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Pull the apple slices out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of cool water.
- From the water in which the fruits were boiling, prepare syrup. For 400 ml of water, add 1.2 kg of sugar. Put the mixture on a large fire and bring to a boil, stirring well with a spoon until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Place apple slices in boiled syrup and let stand for 4 hours.
- After the specified time, put the container on a low heat and boil for 10 minutes.
- Remove from stove and leave for 8 hours.
- Put on low heat again and cook for 7 minutes.
- Set aside again and leave for 5 hours.
- Then repeat the process again to make candied fruit more transparent, but reduce the cooling and settling time to 3-4 hours.
- Then throw the apple slices with a slotted spoon onto a sieve and wait for the excess liquid to glass.
- Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and place apple slices on it. Put in the oven at a temperature of 150 ° C. Dry with ajar door for 16-20 minutes. After 10 minutes, you can sprinkle the fruit with sugar or powdered sugar and dry until fully cooked.
- Allow to cool and place in a container for storage.
Important! Finished candied fruits should not stick to your hands or be too stiff. In the first case, they were not dried out, and in the second, they were dried out.
In the electric dryer
1 can per 1 liter 30 h 30 min.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- In washed apples, cut off the peel, remove the core so that the fruit remains intact.
- Dilute lemon juice in water per 2 l of liquid 2 tbsp. l (or a pinch of citric acid), place the apples so that they do not darken.
- Make syrup. To do this, pour juice into a saucepan and toss sugar, put on a quiet fire, stirring constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. If desired, you can add cinnamon. Boil.
- Pull apples from acidified water and divide with a knife into thin slices or rings of 8-10 mm wide.
- Throw apple slices into a pan with boiled syrup and boil for about 5 minutes. In the process of boiling, remove the foam.
- Set aside the pan for 6–10 hours (may be overnight) to cool. Cooling gradually, the syrup will displace the juice from the apple slices, and they will become transparent and wrinkled.
- Move the apple slices into a colander. The syrup remaining in the pan is brought to a boil, stirring constantly with a spoon. Do not forget to remove the foam.
- Sliced apples again in syrup and cook for about 5 minutes. Then again place the slices in a colander and let the syrup drain.
- Line the pallets of the electric dryer with parchment paper and lay out the apple slices. Sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar.
- Dry for about a day in the drying mode for fruits and vegetables, periodically peeking to control the process.
Did you know? Candied fruits can be put in different dough for sweet pastries - shortbread, biscuit, yeast, cupcake. In desserts they can be used both as a filling and as a decor: even in the photo such a decoration looks beautiful and appetizing.
In the oven
1.4 L4 h 30 min./ 1 day
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Cut the fruit into slices, cutting the core.
- Make syrup. To do this, pour water (3 cups) into a pan and throw 400 g of sugar. The mixture is boiled over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Place the apple slices in sweet syrup and simmer over the fire, stirring constantly. As soon as the apples during this process become transparent and browned, another 400 g of sugar, zest of one lemon (orange), spices should be thrown into the pan and cooked for a few more minutes until a thick mass is obtained.
- Take a baking sheet and cover it with baking paper, then grease it with oil.
- Slices of apples placed on a baking sheet and put in the oven, setting the temperature regime of 50 ° C. The oven door must be opened. Keep 1.5–2 hours.
- Then turn off the oven and let stand for 24 hours at room temperature.
- After the specified time, repeat the drying procedure in the oven.
- Cool the candied fruit, pour it with powdered sugar and place in a container for storage.
Cinnamon
0.7 L2 days / 3 hours
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Split washed and wiped dry fruit with a knife into two equal parts, cut the core, peel the beans, and then cut each half into 6 slices.
- Place baking paper on a baking sheet and place chopped apples on it. It is necessary to spread it closely, since during heat treatment the pieces will decrease in size.
- Mix 300 grams of granulated sugar, cinnamon powder and citric acid, and then sprinkle apples with this mixture.
- Place the pan in the oven at 200 ° C. Hold for 26-30 minutes.
- Pull out the pan and allow to cool.
- Drain in room conditions. To do this, place paper on another baking sheet, sprinkle with 100 grams of granulated sugar. Move apple slices from a baking sheet onto it. Keep at room conditions for two days. During such drying, the fruit gives juice, so after 24 hours it is necessary to replace the paper sheet.
- Two days later, place candied fruit in a container for storage.
Storage Features
To preserve the beneficial elements, smell and taste, candied apple should be stored as follows:
- It is better to use containers made of glass, tin and plastic materials as containers. Ordinary glass jars are well suited. Thick cardboard boxes can also be used.
- Each layer of candied fruit should be re-parchment.
- The place where the described delicacy will be stored should be dark, dry and cool enough. The shelf of the refrigerator will do.
Did you know? Candied fruits tolerate temperature extremes. Even after freezing, this product does not lose its taste.
Despite the length of the process, the result is a natural sweetness that can be enjoyed year-round. The remaining syrup can be used to cook another batch of candied fruits or for the manufacture of drinks, impregnation of cakes.
