Detailed Processing Technology for Wild Apricot Preserves Stuffed with Almonds
(1) Process flow
Raw material selection → washing, soaking → sulfur fumigation → sugar boiling → sugar steeping → baking → shaping and almond stuffing → packaging → finished product
(2) Explanation of key operation points
(1) Raw material selection: Choose dried wild apricots with thick flesh, large size, low fiber content, slight browning, and free from mold and insect damage as raw materials. For almonds, whole, large, and plump kernels are preferred.
(2) Washing and soaking: Thoroughly wash the selected dried wild apricots and almonds with clean water, then soak for 30 minutes.
(3) Sulfur fumigation: Place the washed and soaked dried wild apricots in a sealed room and fumigate with sulfur at 0.1%-0.2% of the raw material weight. This gives the product better color after sugar boiling.
(4) Almond peeling and detoxification: Peel almonds using a 0.5%-1.0% sodium hydroxide solution under boiling conditions, then detoxify with dilute acid.
(5) Almond frying: Place the peeled almonds in a vegetable oil pot at 150-160°C, frying them evenly through without burning. Drain the oil from the fried almonds and set aside.
(6) Sugar boiling and steeping: First prepare 35-40 kg of sugar liquid at a concentration of 30%-40%, put it into the pot together with 50-60 kg of the prepared dried wild apricots and bring to a boil. Add white granulated sugar in batches. After boiling in sugar for 15 minutes, when the soluble solids of the sugar liquid reach 65% and the temperature is 103-105°C, remove from the pot. Then place the dried wild apricots and sugar liquid at room temperature and steep in sugar for 24 hours.
(7) Baking: Drain the surface sugar liquid from the sugar-steeped wild apricot preserves, send them into a drying room at 60-65°C and dry until they are no longer sticky to the touch. The baking time is 16 hours.
(8) Shaping and almond stuffing: Knead the baked wild apricot preserves into a flat shape by hand, remove black spots and other defects, then wrap one fried almond inside two pieces of wild apricot preserve, and package with colored transparent cellophane. Put every 10 pieces into a small composite flexible packaging bag, and vacuum-seal them.