How to dry strawberries for the winter: methods of drying at home

Dried strawberries with leaves

To prepare strawberry tea, strawberries can be dried along with the leaves and stem without picking the berries. Tie the strawberry leaves together with the inflorescences into small bouquets and hang them in a well-ventilated area.

At an air temperature of +25 degrees, such drying will take a week. Check the berries and leaves and if they are dry enough, cut the bouquets with scissors for more convenient storage and subsequent brewing of tea.

You should not leave strawberries to dry for a long time. It will dry out, lose its aroma, and flies with dust will make the healthy berry inedible and even dangerous.

Place dried strawberries with leaves in glass jars, close with a tight lid and store in a dark and cool place.

Strawberries dried in the oven or electric dryer

In this case, the strawberries are dried separately, without leaves and stalks. It is strictly forbidden to wash the berries before drying; only manual cleaning of debris is allowed.

Strawberries and wild strawberries absorb water too quickly, and during forced drying, the washed berries spread into a small blot that cannot be removed from the dryer rack or parchment paper.

In the oven, first dry the berries a little, setting the minimum temperature to about 30 degrees for 2 hours. Then increase the temperature to 50 degrees, stirring occasionally, until completely dry.

Strawberries are dried in an electric dryer for 5 hours at a temperature of 30 degrees, then dried at 65 degrees until ready.

On average, to get a glass of dried strawberries, you need 2 liter jars of fresh berries.

But who uses strawberries only for treatment, if it can become a real delicacy?

Strawberry marshmallow in an electric dryer

Strawberry marshmallows are very easy to prepare and store just as well as regular dried strawberries.

If you have any crushed strawberries left, or ones you had to wash, put them in a blender, add a little sugar and blend until smooth.

Lubricate the tray of the electric dryer with vegetable oil and place the strawberry mass in the tray, in a layer of no more than 0.5 cm. Set the temperature of the electric dryer to 60 degrees, and after 10 hours of tedious waiting, you will finally get the long-awaited strawberry marshmallow.

If you don’t eat everything right away, roll it up, cut it, and you can dry it a little more for longer storage.

For more information about drying strawberries, watch the video: