How much is possible and how to store prunes at home

Prunes are a dried fruit that has been used for medicinal purposes for a long time. It is considered more useful than fresh plums due to its high concentration of vitamins, fiber and minerals. Thanks to the use of this product, you can normalize the functioning of the digestive system, kidneys, cope with high blood pressure, etc. For those who are interested in how to store prunes at home, this article was written.

How to choose

Choosing the right dried fruits is an important part of the storage process. A high-quality fruit should be sufficiently dried, but not brittle, and quite large.

If the product is in original packaging, you need to look at the date of manufacture and add 12 months to it to get the final expiration date. If there is no such data, prunes should be consumed within 6 - 9 months from the date of purchase.

Not only appearance is an indicator of the quality of prunes. The product must not contain chemical additives. If its surface is too shiny, it is better to refuse such a purchase. Perhaps this is the result of processing the product in order to give it a marketable appearance. If you can rub prunes on your palm, you can determine whether they are natural or not. The marks left on the hand will indicate its low quality and chemical processing.

How long prunes can be stored depends to a large extent on drying them. The drier the fruit, the longer it will keep. Wetter fruits should be consumed first. If the shelf life of the product is not known, prunes should not be stored for longer than six months.

During the drying process, plums significantly lose weight, so it is not profitable for the manufacturer to sell completely dry fruits. Knowing this, you can dry them yourself if you plan on long-term storage.

How to properly store dried plums

In the process of storing dried plums, housewives have to put a lot of effort. There are several ways to store a medicinal product:

It is recommended to store dried plums in a dry, hermetically sealed container, protecting it from direct sunlight and excess moisture.
Dried fruits with a lot of spices need to be poured with olive oil marinade, rolled up and sent for long-term storage.
Sweet fruits can be placed in a plastic food container, sprinkled with a sweetener in the form of sugar, powder or starch and placed in the refrigerator.

Preparation for storage

Storing prunes at home usually occurs in:

containers made of glass or ceramics,
paper bags
bags made of natural fabric (cotton, linen).

If desired, you can organize storage in plastic zip bags or food containers with an airtight lid.

Keeping supplies in metal containers is highly undesirable. When interacting with metal, oxidative processes occur, as a result of which the shelf life of prunes is significantly reduced. At the same time, it becomes unsafe for human health.

Prunes should be stored in a dry, cool place with good ventilation.

Why you need to be careful when storing dried fruits

Dried fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals, highly nutritious and do not contain too many calories. Store-bought dried fruits are dried using chemicals; the expiration date and storage conditions of such a product must be indicated on the packaging.

However, some fruits sold by weight in markets are naturally dried. Such dried fruits, subject to certain rules, can be stored at home for up to 12 months.

The composition of dried fruits is much richer than that of frozen ones. If dried fruits lie for a long time in an unsuitable place, they will lose a significant part of their valuable composition. In addition, they will deteriorate much faster than required. It would be a shame to send delicious supplies to the trash bin.

Under what conditions and for how long should it be stored?

Before storing dried prunes, they are sorted, leaving only unspoiled, high-quality fruits. If there is a need for additional drying, it is better to do it right away, as excess moisture will cause mold to form and destroy all supplies.

The product is placed in paper bags or canvas bags and tied tightly. This method of storing prunes will allow them to remain suitable for consumption for 6 months.

If the fruits are grown in your own garden and pre-dried very well, they will retain their quality for 2 years. But only if the container is selected correctly and the storage conditions for prunes are met.

Note! Sun-dried fruits cannot be kept in ordinary plastic bags. There they will “suffocate” and quickly become sticky.

How to determine freshness when purchasing and at home?

First of all, many people try to determine the freshness of a product by its appearance. Manufacturers are trying in every possible way to attract our attention with the shining surface and bright color of dried fruits, sometimes even resorting to treating the fruits with various substances for a more intense aroma. Unfortunately, quite often all this is not a guarantee of good quality.

In order not to make a mistake, you should choose dried fruits with a matte surface, because this is an indicator that the product is natural, because due to the absence of most of the moisture, the fruits cannot shine.

Most often, naturally dried dried fruits do not have a presentable appearance, but they are the ones that are good for health.

For example:

The bright orange color of dried apricots indicates that they have been exposed to chemical dyes. Dried under natural conditions, it has a dark shade, sometimes even brown, with a gray coating.
Raisins, if all the rules of drying and storage are followed, should be brown or black (depending on the grape variety).
The brown tint of prunes indicates that they have been in boiling water, therefore, they have lost some of their beneficial properties, and the shiny surface only indicates treatment with glycerin or wax.

As for those cases when you purchased dried fruits of inadequate quality, you can almost always return them (if the defect did not occur through your fault).

Storage without refrigeration

Usually dried fruits are kept at hand: in the kitchen (in a cabinet or pencil case). At room temperature, prunes can be stored in different ways:

in containers with loose lids,
paper bags or canvas bags.

You can store prunes without refrigeration for up to 6 months if they are in a glass or ceramic container in a dark place.

It is advisable to keep dried fruits in sterile containers to minimize the influence of bacterial flora on the product. And, of course, the container for storing prunes must be absolutely dry.

You should check the status of your supplies regularly so that one day you don’t have to throw them away.

In cases where it is impossible to guarantee the protection of dried fruits from moisture (destruction by insects), sealed glass containers should be used for their storage. Of course, this will require frequent ventilation of the prunes. At the same time, the fruit will need to be inspected to identify those that have begun to deteriorate.

If you decide to store the fruits in plastic containers that cannot withstand sterilization with hot steam, you can rinse them with boiling water or treat them with a cloth soaked in medical alcohol.

How to choose and dry prunes correctly?

When purchasing fresh ingredients, you should pay attention to their density and appearance. Preference should be given to elastic and attractive fruits with whole skin of uniform color

If you initially purchase ready-made dried fruit, the criteria will be as follows:

We do not pay attention to the beautiful gloss; it may be the result of special chemical treatment. The main thing is that the products are dry, but do not break off with one touch.
Take the fruit and rub it on the back of your hand. If, as a result of manipulation, dark marks or greasy stains remain on the skin, it is better not to buy the product.

For long-term storage at home, only thoroughly dried fruits are suitable. Fleshy specimens are intended to be consumed shortly after purchase.
It is better not to purchase products whose manufacturing date is unknown.

It is very easy to dry fresh prunes in your country house or apartment. But, if in the first case the natural process will take almost a week, in the second you can cope in 2 days.

Before drying prunes, you need to hold them in a boiling soda solution for 5 seconds. To prepare it, add a tablespoon of baking soda to 1 liter of water. After this treatment, rinse the fruits thoroughly in cold water. A fine network of cracks should appear on the surface of the skin.
We lay the products on a towel, getting rid of excess moisture.
Now we place the blanks on a baking sheet in one layer and dry them in the oven for 4 hours at a temperature of 40-50ºC. At the end of every hour, the ingredients should be turned over to prevent them from browning.
Now the prunes should be cooled for 5 hours at room temperature. Next, we dry the product for another 4 hours, but at a temperature around 60ºC (do not forget to turn it over). Cool the products again and put them in the oven for 3 hours at 80ºC.

If, during the drying process at home, juice begins to leak out of the fruit or cracks appear on the surface of the peel, you should lower the temperature slightly or shorten the duration of processing.

Cold storage

When there are no suitable conditions for storing dried plums (high humidity levels, frequent temperature changes), you can keep them in the refrigerator.

First, the product is sorted. It is necessary to remove those fruits that have begun to spoil.
Then they are laid out in containers (plastic containers, tight bags with a zipper)
Then they place it on the refrigerator door.

In tightly closed containers, dried fruits can quickly become moldy. Therefore, they need to be taken out and ventilated from there more often to allow excess moisture to evaporate.

Storing prunes in the refrigerator is possible for 1 year, which is 2 times longer than in a warm place. But this method has its drawbacks. Constant temperature changes when opening the door have a negative impact on the quality of the product due to the formation of condensation inside the container with fruit.

If you keep dried fruits open, they will quickly become saturated with the odors of other products and lose their unique properties.

Can I eat it after the specified time?

If the dry fruits look natural in appearance: there are no pests, no stains or moisture, the color and smell are unchanged, then you can use such a product, but you need to evaluate the possible risk, because the expiration dates are indicated by the manufacturer for a reason.

Dried fruits are one of the healthiest products in our lives , but they should be consumed sparingly and wisely, not forgetting about storage conditions and quality. Before use, they should be treated with boiling water or soaked in water, and then rinsed. Be careful when choosing fruits and take care of your health.

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Freezing

Storing prunes in the freezer is not always advisable. Dried plums themselves are capable of maintaining quality for a long time, even without freezing. Exposure to negative temperatures has a negative impact on the structure of the fruit and partially destroys the beneficial substances for which, in fact, storage itself was started.

Beneficial properties of prunes

An aromatic dried fruit with an expressive, refined taste is good both on its own and as an ingredient in various dishes.

It is used in recipes for desserts, baked goods, meat dishes, as well as in fruit soups and drinks. In addition to its bright taste, prunes have many advantages that make them a very healthy food product. The pulp and juice of dried plums contains a whole list of vitamins and minerals:

B vitamins - B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9;
vitamins A, C, E, K;
calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc;
iron, potassium, sodium.

Dried plum pulp contains a large amount of antioxidants. Regular consumption of prunes has an anti-inflammatory, restorative, nourishing and soothing effect on the human body.

This product is recommended to be included in the diet for diseases of the cardiovascular system, as well as for digestive problems, anemia, and vitamin deficiency. The substances contained in this dried fruit have a mild laxative effect.

White plaque on prunes during storage

When the surface of dried fruits becomes covered with a white coating, this is an indicator of improper storage. This happens, for example, when the product is in a tightly closed plastic bag and does not have the opportunity to “breathe”.

The formation of mold, which looks like a white coating, also occurs on under-dried fruits in a closed container. Eating such dried fruits is dangerous to health, so they should be thrown away as soon as possible.

Possible problems

Sometimes the surface of prunes becomes covered with an uneven white coating - this is a clear sign of improper storage. Mold often appears on under-dried fruits that are kept in a hermetically sealed container and do not have access to oxygen for a long time. This product is critically dangerous for the body, so it should be thrown away as quickly as possible.

To avoid such situations, in addition to observing storage conditions, you need to treat the container with boiling water, or better yet, sterilize it with hot steam. A faster and more guaranteed way to treat a container is to wipe the walls with medical alcohol using a cloth. Many people freeze prunes, and this is a serious mistake, since dried plums can be stored for a year. Too low a temperature can negatively affect the quality of the product and destroy most of the beneficial properties.

To avoid problems with storing dried fruits, you should buy them in small portions. After purchasing, you should not leave the fruits in a plastic bag, otherwise they will quickly spoil. It is necessary to create the necessary conditions for storing prunes as quickly as possible, ensuring their quality for a long period of time.

Storage tips

It is better to buy prunes in small quantities. The fresher it is, the healthier it is.
If dried fruits are stored in a damp room, they should be in a hermetically sealed container. In this case, it is necessary to “ventilate” the supplies so that they do not become moldy.
It is strictly forbidden to keep the product in a regular plastic bag.

Anyone who cares about their health needs to know where and how to store prunes. The benefits of this product are undeniable, especially during winter and spring vitamin deficiency.

What to do if there are pests

What to do if your prune supplies are infested with insects? If the infection is not severe, some of the supplies can be saved.

To do this, all the prunes are sorted and the eaten fruits are removed. The remaining dried fruits are thoroughly washed and dried in the oven at a temperature of +75°C. This temperature is enough to kill the pest larvae.

The bags in which the prunes were stored are washed and carefully ironed, paying special attention to the folds where insect eggs may remain. The cabinet where the affected dried fruits were stored is treated with a vinegar solution.

Another way to save leftover supplies is to freeze sorted and washed fruits . Frost is just as destructive to pests as high temperatures. Thawed prunes are suitable for making compotes and sauces.