How to properly dry hazelnuts at home

Hazelnuts contain a large amount of iron, vitamins B and E, useful fatty acids. It is eaten whole, used in the preparation of hot dishes and desserts, used in folk medicine. However, it must be properly prepared before being eaten.

Hazelnuts are used dried. After removing excess moisture, it acquires a richer taste and aroma, becomes crispy, loses bitterness. The risk of product spoilage during storage is reduced. How to dry hazelnuts in shell and without it at home in different ways, read on.

How to dry hazelnuts - in shell or peeled

Hazelnuts are dried both in the shell and without it. Many people wonder which of the ways is better.

In the shell, nuts are stored longer, they are protected from harmful microorganisms and oxidation of useful substances. In this case, you do not have to waste time cleaning before drying. When the dried nuts are needed, it will be enough to peel the right amount.

Peeled nuts are easier to use. Having spent time cleaning all hazelnuts once, you do not have to remove the shells each time during use. It is easier to remove spoiled copies from peeled kernels, which usually come across a lot.

Drying peeled nuts takes less time than in shells. However, not all methods can be used for the latter option.

It is interesting! Hazelnuts (hazelnuts) and hazelnuts have the same flavor and composition. They differ in appearance. The first is small and oval, the second is larger and more round. Hazelnut is a wild nut that grows in the forest, and hazelnut is a domesticated variety.

Collection and preparation of nuts

Before you dry the hazelnuts, you need to properly collect and prepare them. Harvesting is in September. Ripe nuts are reddish brown or light brown. Green specimens are not tasty, they need to be allowed to ripen.

To collect hazelnuts, a light blanket or film is laid under the bush. The plant is shaken so that the fruits fall on the litter.

The collected nuts are sorted out, separated, separated from the stalks. Instances with traces of mold, dark spots and holes in the shell are discarded. These are signs of corruption or insects inside.

If the hazelnuts are to be dried directly in the shell, they are simply washed in a large container of water. Then spread on a towel and blot excess moisture.

Raw hazelnuts are peeled from the shell. To do this, it is poured with boiling water and left in this form for an hour. After that, the shells are broken with a small hammer or nutcracker.

The kernels are removed and sorted out, removing darkened, moldy, as well as specimens with an unpleasant odor and traces of insects.

To clear the kernels from a thin shell, they are poured with boiling water and left for 5 minutes. After that, the skin can be easily removed with your fingers or a napkin.

Reference. Some housewives peel already dried kernels. In this case, there is a risk that the thin shell will burn off when cooking the nuts.

Ways to dry hazelnuts at home

There are several options. For some of them, special equipment is needed, while others are carried out with the help of improvised means or simply in the fresh air. Each option has its own advantages, disadvantages and technology.

In the oven

There is an oven in almost every home.And in order to ignite a nut in it, you do not have to spend a lot of time and effort. Both electrical and gas appliances are suitable.

Dry both peeled and unpeeled kernels easily in the oven. In both cases, the cooking technology will be different.

How to dry peeled hazelnuts:

1. The baking sheet is covered with parchment. Kernels are spread on it in 1-2 layers.
2. Put in the oven, preheat it to 60-100 ° C. If possible, turn on the convection mode, and if not, open the door.
3. Periodically, the oven is opened slightly and the nuts are mixed. Then they check for readiness.

Cooking time for nuts is 1-2 hours and depends on the temperature. The higher it is, the faster the nuts will dry, but the less vitamins will remain in them.

How to dry in-shell hazelnuts in the oven:

1. The product is placed on a baking sheet in 1-2 layers. In this case, no parchment is needed.
2. The baking sheet is placed in an oven preheated to 120 ° C.
3. Periodically open the door and stir the nuts.

Drying time for inshell nuts varies between 4-6 hours. To understand if the hazelnuts are dry, you need to split one and check the kernel.

Note! Dried kernels have a golden hue on the outside and at the core. They give off a pleasant rich aroma. When cooled, well-dried hazelnuts are crisper than raw.

There is a faster way to dry in the oven. It looks the same for peeled and in-shell hazelnuts:

1. The product is laid out in 1-2 layers on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Put in an oven preheated to 180 ° C.
2. Every 5 min. open the oven and mix the nuts, check for readiness.
3. The cleaned kernels will be ready in 10 minutes. Cooking time for in-shell hazelnuts is 20-30 minutes.

Another option for drying peeled nuts: preheat the oven to 180 ° C, place the kernels in it in one layer and turn it off immediately. The nuts are left in the oven until they cool completely.

In the microwave

Both peeled kernels and in shells are dried in a microwave oven. This is one of the fastest methods and takes no more than 10 minutes in total. Drying technology for peeled and unpeeled hazelnuts is different.

How to dry hazelnuts without shells in the microwave:

1. Place the nuts on a stove dish or a wide flat plate in one layer.
2. They set the power to 750 W and turn on for 3 minutes.
3. After the sound signal, the nuts are turned over. The door is left open, allowing the cores to cool completely.
4. After the cores have cooled, the microwave is turned on again for 3 minutes at the same power.
5. After that, the kernels are checked. If they are not dry enough, they are allowed to cool. Then turn on the microwave for another 2 minutes.

If unpeeled hazelnuts are dried in a microwave oven, use the following technology:

1. Put it on a dish in one layer.
2. Set the power to 750 watts. The device is turned on for 10 minutes.
3. After the beep, the nuts are allowed to cool. One of them is split and the core is checked for readiness. If it is damp, turn on the oven for another 5 minutes.

The main disadvantage of this method is that no more than 300 g of nuts are placed in the microwave.

Frying in a pan

A frying pan is also used to dry the nuts. This is the fastest way. It allows you to dry a large amount of food and takes an average of 3 to 10 minutes (depending on the number of nuts in the pan). It is with the help of this method that kernels of a beautiful golden hue are obtained.

There are disadvantages to pan drying. Cooking nuts in this case occurs at high temperatures, at which many vitamins are destroyed. Dried this way hazelnut will be less useful. In addition, it is during frying that it is easiest to overexpose the kernels, which will lead to their burning.

It is not necessary to specially break the shells before frying. During the cooking process, it will crack, which will make it quick and easy to get the kernels.

How to roast nuts in shell:

1. Pour nuts into a preheated dry frying pan and fry over low heat for 3-4 minutes.
2. Then the intensity of the burner is increased to the maximum and fried for another 5-7 minutes.
3. During the cooking process, the hazelnuts are constantly stirred. Otherwise, it will burn on one side and remain moist on the other.

Cracked shells and a rich aroma indicate readiness. It is recommended to get some kernels and test them.

You need to be extremely careful with peeled nuts. They roast quickly and, if not removed from the fire in time, burn out.

Dry the kernels at the lowest temperature, stirring constantly. Readiness is evidenced by the increased aroma and characteristic crackle. If hazelnuts are dried in a thin shell, they dry out and fall off right in the pan.

Do not leave dried nuts in a hot pan - they will burn. After turning off the burner, they are immediately poured into a dry plate.

Important! Thick-bottomed pans are suitable for drying. The food burns out in a thin metal dish.

In the dryer

In special devices, not only vegetables and fruits are dried. The device is also used for cooking nuts. In the dryer, hazelnuts take longer to cook than in other electrical appliances, but they dry evenly and retains useful substances.

The correct way to cook nuts in a dryer is:

1. Nuts are laid out in one layer on the grid of an electric dryer. If the device has several tiers, fill them all.
2. The temperature on the dryer is set to 90 ° C. The device is closed and left for 4 hours. There is no need to stir the kernels during the drying process, they are blown from all sides by hot air.
3. After 4 hours, turn off the device and wait for the nuts to cool. If they are not ready yet, turn on the dryer again.

Peeled hazelnuts are dried in an electric dryer for 4-6 hours. Cooking in-shell nuts takes up to a day.

Outdoors after harvest

Naturally dried hazelnuts are the healthiest. At the outside temperature, they do not lose nutrients. In this case, the kernels will be white or cream without a golden hue. This will not affect the taste.

It is recommended to dry the nuts in the shell. You can clear them when ready. Drying of the peeled kernel is possible, but in this case there is a risk that insects will start in them.

How to dry nuts outdoors:

1. Prepared kernels are laid out on pallets or cloth mat and covered with one layer of gauze. This will protect the hazelnuts from ants, flies and other pests.
2. The pallet with the product is placed in the open sun in a well-ventilated place. The sunnier and more windy the weather is, the faster the process will go.
3. Turn the nuts several times a day so that they dry evenly.
4. At night, pallets are brought into the house. This will protect them from morning dew and speed up the process.
5. During precipitation, in wet weather and strong winds, hazelnuts are brought into the room. Otherwise, it will not dry out, but will start to rot.

On average, drying hazelnuts outside takes a week. If the weather is not sunny and cloudy, it will last longer.

Council. To dry a nut at home, it is placed near a radiator or in a room with a "warm floor" system.

Storage after drying

In order for dried hazelnuts to remain tasty and healthy for a long time, not to harm health, you should familiarize yourself with all the rules and nuances of its storage:

1. Choose natural containers for storage. They usually use cloth bags or glass jars. The containers should close well. Plastic bags are not suitable, as condensation forms in them, which leads to damage to the nuts.
2. The storage area should be dry and dark.
3. Hazelnuts are kept separate from other nuts. Otherwise, their aromas will mix and the taste will deteriorate.
4. Nuts absorb odors well. They are not stored with foods and items that have intense aromas.
5. If the kernels have acquired an unpleasant odor or become covered with mold, they are not eaten. Spoiled hazelnuts are toxic.
6. It is not recommended to store it for more than six months. The shelf life of peeled kernels fried in a pan or in the oven at high temperatures is reduced to 3 months.

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Conclusion

Drying hazelnuts allows you to get a more pleasant taste and aroma, get rid of bitterness. In addition, due to the evaporation of excess moisture, the walnut is stored longer and is less susceptible to putrefactive microorganisms.

There are many ways to dry. Some of them allow you to get a finished product in a few minutes, while others take several days or even weeks. It is believed that the lower the temperature was used when drying hazelnuts, the more useful elements remain in it and the longer it is stored.