Gifts of gardens and fields - a storehouse of vitamins and minerals necessary for health. But you only use fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer and fall. To use for a long time, it is necessary to process products so that they do not lose their useful qualities and can be stored for quite some time. With good yields, there is a need to preserve these fruits. For this, the housewives are engaged in canning, freezing and drying. During these manipulations, many useful substances are lost. Routine drying is a lengthy process and not always effective. Therefore, the farm needs a dryer for vegetables and fruits. You can make this simple device with your own hands, and with minimal material costs and for a short time.
How to dry fruits
More often than not, various foods "weather" in the sun. Useful substances are preserved, but this is difficult because the smell attracts flies and other insects that can ruin the food. Gauze wraps, drying in an enclosed space without oxygen do not help to obtain high-quality dried fruits. Chemical processing can spoil the product and even make it unsafe to ingest.
What do housewives use
Ovens sold in stores are electric and infrared. A homemade master can make a home-made dryer for vegetables and fruits. With their own hands, using skill and ingenuity, it is quite possible to create the necessary equipment in the household.
The cost of appliances in stores is quite high. But you don’t always want to spend about 6,000 rubles to buy the right product, so a home-made dryer for vegetables and fruits will come to your aid. With your own hands, in a few hours you can make a device that is no worse than a store one, and in terms of quality, the dried fruits obtained will be even better. And at cost, this unit will come out much cheaper. For the manufacture will require various improvised materials, tools and old appliances that are gathering dust in the pantry.
How does it work
An electric or infrared drying oven operates on the principle of removing moisture from products using a stream of warm air or special rays that penetrate 10 mm deep into the fruit. At the same time, products change their appearance, almost without losing the quality composition. Some vitamins disappear, especially when processed with infrared rays, but in general, such dried fruits can be stored for a long time and consumed. Convection flows prevent the development of mold.
Homemade appliance action
Blowing food with warm air - this is how a dryer for vegetables and fruits works. With your own hands you can put together a box, put nets with spread out fruits there and direct the fan. A simple and necessary device can help in the processing of a large number of fruits, as well as meat and fish products.
The simplest design
Removing moisture from the fruit is possible in the oven or in a Russian oven. This is the easiest dryer for vegetables and fruits. With your own hands (photo in the article), you can upgrade it and use it for drying fish and meat. The camera is built without a bottom and a lid and can be of various sizes - as long as your imagination and the quantity of the crop are enough. The optimal design is plywood with dimensions of 60 x 80 x 40 cm.
From the inside, sliders for pallets are stuffed or wires are pulled in case of hanging meat or fish. The side faces are covered with a mosquito net. After removing flies and other insects, closing the top panel, turn on the fan, which is previously placed inside the frame. In such a dryer, you can quickly dry a large number of vegetables, fruits, as well as meat and fish. This camera is good in that it is easily transported and can be installed in the country, on the veranda and even on the balcony. Internal grilles or grids can be rearranged closer to the fan and the drying process can be adjusted.
How to make an infrared dryer
An infrared dryer for vegetables and fruits dries them well and quickly and in some cases can heat the room. Having bought a special thermal film, which is used for the manufacture of underfloor heating, measuring 50x100 cm, an electric wire with a plug, connection terminals and bitumen insulation, you can easily create a dryer. A big plus - it is easy to carry and does not take up much space in the car. With the help of such a device, vegetables and fruits quickly turn into storage products.
Drying in the sun
For summer cottages, the simplest dryer for vegetables and fruits is being built. With your own hands, without electricity, with the help of a saw, a hammer, scissors and a stapler, you can quickly assemble this design. Such a home-made camera is widely used by summer residents.
You build a box with dimensions in accordance with the volume of processed fruits. Master shelves from any material that should be well blown, and mount at an angle after preliminary determination of the greatest exposure to sunlight. Flank side and back walls with lining or plywood. The back panel must be sheathed with metal sheet for more air heating. To create a greenhouse effect, paint the surface with black paint. Close the air circulation openings with gauze to protect against insects. Make the top panel of clear plastic or glass.
Such a dryer for vegetables and fruits can hold more than 10 kg of fruits at a time. With your own hands for the cottage, you can make it from improvised materials. It acts quite simply: under the influence of sunlight, the metal sheet and black surfaces are heated to 40-50 ° C. With this regimen, vitamins and minerals undergo the least destruction. Moisture evaporates due to the presence of ventilation holes, and therefore the products are not covered by mold.
An old refrigerator will help you
An old idle refrigerator takes up a lot of space in the house, gathers dust and makes the household nervous. Often it is used to store trash or unnecessary things. But he can do a good job. It makes an excellent dryer for vegetables and fruits. You can build a camera with your own hands from the refrigerator, which is a pity to throw away, which will surpass even store appliances.
There are already grooves in the refrigerator, and you can fit home-made shelves for them, for which you can use grills (having previously bitten off the handle with pliers), office tools for storing stationery or home-made pallets (as far as your imagination is enough) made of wire, wire mesh and wooden blocks.
It is better to fix the
mosquito net to the slats using self-tapping screws, rather than nails, after bending it in order to prevent delamination and breakthrough.
It takes several hours to create this design. It is necessary to carefully remove the freezer, compressor and cut openings from above for forced ventilation.
Purchase a Chinese-made heat fan and connect in such a way that it can be taken outside the drying chamber. Use the hole left after removing the compressor to connect the camera. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure good blowing of the sheets of food. This is achieved by the corresponding distance between the walls, pallets and the fan - at least 20 mm.
Many users leave positive feedback about such a dryer, about the quality of dried fruits, and masters are constantly improving a makeshift camera to increase its effectiveness.