Drying of apricots
Practical Action
The apricots should be picked by hand and placed carefully in a harvesting basket. The
harvesting basket and the hands of the harvester should be clean.
For the best quality dried product the apricots should be picked when they are 'eating ripe' (firm
and sweet) rather than 'juicy ripe' (soft and sweet). They should be deep yellow to golden orange
in colour.
Preparation – sorting the fruit
Damaged and bruised fruits must be rejected as they produce low quality dried apricots. Under-
ripe apricots should be rejected as these produce a bland colourless product and do not absorb
sufficient sulphur dioxide during sulphuring. Over-ripe apricots should also be rejected as they
absorb too much sulphur dioxide.
The apricots should be washed in clean water. If dried apricot halves are being produced, the
apricots should be split into two and the kernels removed. The pits (or stones) are removed by
running water through baskets full of the fruit and separating the flesh from the stone by hand.
Be careful not to squash and bruise the fruit too much during this process. The two halves of the
fruit should be separated as this produces a more attractive product than when they are left
connected. The separated pits can be cracked to obtain the kernel, which can either be
consumed or converted into cooking oil. Bitter pitted fruit can be fed to animals.
Pre-treatment
The apricots can be treated before they are dried. This is not essential but does produce a higher
quality product. There are several options for pre-treating apricots, the most effective one being
sulphuring. If you choose not to sulphur, a good alternative is syrup blanching. Apricots can also
be pre-treated by dipping them in a solution of fruit juice.
The different pre-treatment methods are described below:
Sulphuring
Sulphur dioxide will help to
maintain the bright orange colour
of the apricots. There are two
methods of adding sulphur dioxide
to the apricots: they can be dipped
in a solution of sodium
metabisulphite (sulphiting) or they
can be placed in a chamber in
which sulphur is burnt (sulphuring)
(see Figures 2 and 3).
Sulphuring is the preferred option
because in sulphiting, there is
often an uneven penetration of
sulphur dioxide, the fruit is made
Figure 2. Traditional sulphuring
wet which increases the amount of drying
Vent holFesigure 2: Trandietieodneadl saunlpdhusorimnge soluble nutrients are lost.
Figure 3: Traditional sulphuring
2
There are strict limits regarding the amount of
sulphur that can be added (or which is
residual in the apricots after sulphuring). It is
important not to exceed this limit as the
apricots will have a sulphurous taste. The
colour of dried apricots can be regulated
without the addition of chemical preservatives
by improving the drying conditions. The
apricots need to be placed in a chamber in
which sulphur (2-4g sulphur per kg apricots)
is burnt for 2-3 hours. Figures 2 and 3 show
traditional sulphuring chambers.