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Cover greens with enough boiling water to cover and simmer until tender.

DRYING FRUITS

See Pre-drying Treatments for Produce, earlier in this chapter, for proportions to use, in general, and criteria for dryness. Specifics are given with each fruit.

Apples

Best for drying are late-autumn or early-winter varieties. Peel, core, slice in ⅛-inch rings, coating slices with strong ascorbic-acid solution to hold color temporarily.

Indoor dryer. Steam-blanch 5 minutes; press out excess moisture. In a dehydrator, begin them at 130 F/54 C; raise gradually to 150 F/66 C after the first hour; when nearly dry, reduce to 140 F/60 C. In a stove oven or handmade indoor dryer, aim to maintain a temperature of 140 F/60 C throughout. Test dry. Condition. Package; store. Average total drying time: 6 to 12 hours, depending on size of slices.

Open-air/sun. If not steam-blanched for 5 minutes, sulfur-soak for 15 minutes or sulfur-fume for 60 minutes; if blanched, sulfur-soak for 10 minutes or sulfur-fume for 30 minutes. Proceed with drying. Test dry. Pasteurize. Package; store. Solar dryer: about 70 percent of open-air/sun time.

Room-drying. Prepare as above. Steam-blanch 5 minutes and sulfur-soak 10 minutes or sulfur-fume 30 minutes; or if not blanched, sulfur-soak 15 minutes or sulfur-fume for 60 minutes. Thread on clean string, and festoon near the ceiling of a warm, dry, well-ventilated room (attic), or above a wood-burning stove in frequent use; or stack on trays with an electric fan blowing across them. Protect against flies. Test dry; pasteurize.

Dry test: leathery, suede-like; no moisture when cut and squeezed.

Apricots

Halve and stone. Hold against oxidizing with ascorbic-acid coating.

Indoor dryer. Steam-blanch halves 15 minutes, slices 5 minutes. Press out moisture. In a dehydrator, start at 130 F/54 C, raise gradually after the first hour to 150 F/66 C. Reduce to 140 F/60 C for last hour or when nearly dry. In a stove oven or handmade indoor dryer, aim to maintain a temperature of 140 F/60 C throughout. Test dry. Condition; store. Average total drying time: 14 to 36 hours for halves, 6 to 12 hours for slices.

Open-air/sun. If steam-blanching as for an indoor dryer, sulfur-soak slices 10 minutes, or sulfur-fume 30 minutes; sulfur-soak halves 15 minutes, or sulfur-fume 90 minutes. Not blanched, sulfur-soak slices 10 minutes, halves 15 minutes, or sulfur-fume slices 1 hour, halves 2 hours. Remove halves carefully to drying trays so as not to spill juice in the hollows (if you have sulfur-fumed), and place cut-side up in the drying trays. Turn when all visible juice has disappeared. Test dry. Pasteurize; store. Solar dryer: about 70 percent of open-air/sun time.

Dry test. Leathery, pieces separate naturally after squeezing; no moisture when cut.

Fermenía’s Apricots

The following method is general in high-country farms in the Rockies. PFB saw it practiced at Las Trampas pueblo in New Mexico (8000 ft/2438 m) by Sra. Fermenía López.

Wash whole, dunk in a solution of 2 tablespoons pickling salt to each 1 gallon water to hold color; tear open, pit, and press inside-out to expose greatest surface to drying.

Open-air/sun: on racks, full sun for several hours, then in roofed south-facing patio to finish. When leathery, condition (but don’t pasteurize); store in airtight containers in cool place.

Berries, Firm

Check (crack) the skins of blueberries, huckleberries, currants, and cranberries, etc., by dipping for 15 to 30 seconds (depending on toughness of skin) in rapidly boiling water. Plunge into cold water. Remove excess moisture.

Indoor Dryer. If using a dehydrator, start at 120 F/49 C, increase to 130 F/54 C after one hour, then to 140 F/60 C; they will rattle on the trays when nearly dry. Keep at 140 F/60 C until dry. In a stove oven or handmade indoor dryer, aim to maintain a temperature of 140 F/60 C throughout. Test dry. Condition; store. Average total drying time: 4 to 12 hours.

Open-air/sun. Check the skins as above