Food Alphabet
Dried mountain ash berries
Mountain ash is a small densely branched deciduous shrub of the Rosaceae family. The fruits of the black-fruited mountain ash ripen in August - September. As a rule, they are dark brown or black-purple in color, with a light waxy coating and dark ruby flesh.
Since the chokeberry is a medicinal plant, its fruits can be used for medicinal purposes both in fresh and dried form.
To dry the chokeberry for short-term storage (six months) , cut rowan umbrellas are strung on a dense thread, fishing line or wire and hung in a dry room with good ventilation. So the berries can sag all winter. At the same time, they will not start germs, and they will not be subjected to fermentation.
To dry the berries for long-term storage (a year or more), the rowan is separated from the stems after harvesting, sorted, washed and dried on a towel. After that, the berries are laid out on trays or on a small grid in a layer of 2 – 3 cm and dried in the sun in the fresh air. However, for long-term storage, you can dry rowan berries in the oven. First, they are dried for 20-30 minutes at a temperature of 40-45 degrees, then the temperature is increased to 60 degrees and continue drying until the berries stop releasing juice when squeezed with your fingers.
It is important to remember that dried berries should not change color to reddish or brown. The change in the color of the berries indicates that the temperature regime was violated and the berries almost completely lost their vitamins.
