Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 282 kcal | 80 kcal |
| Protein | 8.2 g | 2.3 g |
| Fat | 2.4 g | 0.7 g |
| saturated | 0.2 g | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 54.1 g | 15.3 g |
| sugars | 54.1 g | 15.3 g |
| Fibre | 11.8 g | 3.3 g |
| Sodium | 6 mg | 2 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 5.7 kg ripe fresh or frozen apricots
- Lime or lemon juice
- Sugar
- Honey (or maple syrup)
Instructions
- Use apricots that are fully coloured and just soft at the seam. An underripe one is sour and stays sour, since drying concentrates acid exactly as readily as sugar.
- Halve them along the natural groove and twist the halves apart, then flick the stone out. Do not peel — the skin holds the half together as it shrinks and stops it collapsing into a disc.
- Mix one part lemon or lime juice into three parts water and give the halves five minutes in it. The acid stops the cut flesh going brown, which is the difference between an orange dried apricot and a dull grey one.
- For a sweeter, softer result, simmer the drained halves for ten minutes in a syrup of equal parts sugar and honey with twice as much water, then let them cool in it. The syrup replaces water inside the fruit and keeps the finished apricot pliable; skip it and you get something noticeably tarter and chewier.
- Drain the halves well and lay them cut side up so the hollow catches nothing. Cut side down, the juice pools against the mesh and glues the fruit to the tray.
- Dehydrate at 57 °C for 12 hours, turning them over once the cut faces have stopped looking wet. The syrup-soaked ones take noticeably longer.
- They are done when a cooled half is leathery and pliable, and tearing one open shows no bead of moisture along the tear. A half that still feels plump in the middle needs another couple of hours, whatever the clock says.
- Condition them in a loosely closed jar for a week with a daily shake, and put the batch back on the trays if the glass fogs. After that they will hold six months in a sealed jar in a dark cupboard, or a year in the fridge — and the syrup-dipped ones keep the longest, because the sugar is doing preserving work of its own.
