How is high-quality apricot dried fruit made in southern Xinjiang?

To reduce production costs, simplify the production process, and increase commercial value, a simple new process for making high-quality dried apricots is introduced here.

1. Process flow chart

Raw materials → selection and grading → washing → air-drying → sulfur fumigation → soaking in a drying accelerator → drying in a shade shed → sorting and packaging.

2. Production procedure

1. Material selection

Select varieties suitable for drying as raw materials, with large fruit, thick flesh, little juice, freestone pits, high sugar content, and fine flesh.

2. Selection and grading

When the apricots reach 70-80% ripeness, pick them by hand according to variety, and divide them by fruit size into large, medium, and small before placing them in baskets.

3. Washing

After grading, rinse the apricots clean with clean tap water.

4. Air-drying

Drain the water from the washed apricots, then air-dry them in a shaded place and put them into baskets.

5. Sulfur fumigation

Put the air-dried apricots into flat baskets, spray a small amount of 3.5% salt water (to prevent discoloration), send them into a fumigation room, and place them layer by layer on wooden fumigation racks. Then pour burning charcoal into an iron pan in the room, or into a pit dug in the center of the fumigation room floor, and sprinkle sulfur powder onto the charcoal fire. The amount of sulfur powder used is about 0.4% of the fresh apricot weight. Move quickly; after sprinkling, immediately seal the door with felt and leave at once to avoid poisoning. After about 2-3 hours, when the fruit becomes yellow and semi-transparent, open the door for ventilation to let the sulfur smell disperse. After the air has been fully exchanged, immediately move the apricots outdoors and leave them for 1-2 hours to dry.

6. Soaking in a drying accelerator

After the sulfur-fumigated apricots have dried for 1-2 hours, soak them in a 2% drying accelerator solution for 5 minutes, then remove them and drain off the water. This method can shorten the drying time by 3/4 compared with the ordinary traditional method.

7. Drying in a shade shed

Build a rectangular shed frame with several layers of shelves, and cover the surroundings and top of the shed frame with a single layer of gauze. This not only allows ventilation but also prevents direct sunlight, preventing the sugar in the apricots from separating out, turning black in the light, sticking together, and being difficult to dry, which would lead to wrinkled skin, poor appearance and color, lower sugar content, and a lower commercial grade of dried apricots. Arrange the soaked and drained apricots neatly in shallow baskets lined with a thin gauze, then place the shallow baskets on the shelves of the shed frame, arranging them neatly layer by layer, and move the shed frame to an open area. During the shade-drying process of the apricots, pay attention to timely swapping the apricot baskets on the upper and lower shelves of the shed frame so that the apricots put in at one time are evenly ventilated and heated, dry at the same time, and come off the racks at the same time, improving the utilization rate of the shed frame. By this method, they can generally be shade-dried in 3-4 days, about 16-17 days shorter than the traditional method, increasing work efficiency by 5-6 times.

3. Packaging and storage

The main purpose of packaging dried apricots is to prevent moisture and insect damage. Generally, use polyethylene plastic film, which can prevent insect damage and has good barrier properties against water vapor, for sealing and packaging, or choose transparent composite film packaging. They can also be packed into cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, or gunny sacks and pressed firm to avoid ventilation and air permeability. The storage location should be dry and clean, and the bottom should be raised with wooden boards to prevent moisture regain and deterioration.

4. Quality and input-output ratio that dried apricots made by the new process should achieve The degree of drying of apricots by oven drying or shade drying is the key technology. If too dry, the flesh is dry and hard, the apricots are small, the skin is wrinkled, the appearance is poor, and the taste is not good, affecting the grade of the apricots; if too wet, the sugar juice easily seeps out, the appearance is black, they stick to the teeth when eaten, and they are prone to mold, spoilage, and deterioration. The appropriate degree of drying should be a moisture content of 15%-18%. At this time, they do not stick to each other, no sugar juice seeps out, they are freestone, do not stick to the teeth, the apricots are golden yellow, the fruit shape is plump, the flesh is thick and soft, and the taste is pleasant and sweet. At present, top-grade fresh apricots on the market are 1 yuan/kg, and 4 kg of fresh apricots produce 1 kg of dried apricots, while dried apricots are 14 yuan/kg. If fresh apricots are dried, then each kg of dried apricots can increase economic benefit by 10 yuan, while the materials, labor, and other costs required to process 1 kg of dried apricots total less than 1 yuan, that is, the input-output ratio for processing 1 kg of dried apricots can reach 1:9.