In drying, prunes shrink about two-thirds in weight—­that is, for every three pounds of fresh fruit you get one pound of finished product.

Smaller fruits, such as red and black raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries, dewberries, strawberries and blueberries, are simply washed and then put to dry.  Berries must not be dried too hard; if too much moisture is removed they will not resume their original form when soaked in water.  But the material must be dried sufficiently or it will mold.  Haven’t you often tasted extremely seedy dried berries?  They were dried until they rattled.  Stop the drying as soon as the berries fail to stain the hand when pressed.

To obtain the most satisfactory results soft fruits should be only one layer deep on the drying trays.

Fruits contain about 80 to 95 per cent water and when dried sufficiently still retain from 15 to 20 per cent of water, so it is a good plan to weigh before and after drying.  The product should lose from two-thirds to four-fifths of its weight.

STEPS IN FRUIT DRYING

1.  Thoroughly cleanse the product.

2.  Prepare the product by slicing and so on.

3.  Spread on trays; put in oven or put on commercial drier.

4.  Stir occasionally.

5.  Shift trays.

6.  Test for completeness of drying.

7.  “Condition” for three or four days.  Sweet fruits may contain more moisture without spoiling than those of low sugar content.

8.  Heat to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes, to kill all insects.

9.  Pack immediately in available receptacles.

10.  Label and store.

FRUIT PASTES

Fruit pastes are delicious and can be dried.

1.  Select, wash, prepare fruit. 2.  Cook until soft; stir. 3.  Add sugar to sweeten. 4.  Continue cooking until very thick. 5.  Spread out flat by spoonfuls on oiled paper. 6.  Dry in slow oven; finish drying over kitchen range. 7.  Turn from time to time like griddle cakes.

Nuts of all kinds can be dried in these cakes, which may be left whole or cut in strips with scissors.

CANDIED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

1.  Select product of uniform size and ripeness.

2.  Wash; prepare in usual way.

3.  Cut fruit in halves, quarters or smaller sections; cut vegetables in narrow strips two and a half inches long.

4.  Drop in a sirup cooked until it spins a thread.  To prepare ginger sirup, add a few roots of ginger to the sirup.

5.  Cook until transparent.

6.  Drain.

7.  Dry in slow oven; Finish drying over kitchen range.

8.  Roll in granulated sugar. (May be omitted for fruits.)

This method is recommended especially for candied apples, peaches, pears and carrots.