Dried fruit

If you have a lot of fruit, you might want to consider drying it. Dried fruit does not require additional ingredients or sterilised jars making this one of the simplest and healthiest ways to preserve the harvest. Once dried, it's a tasty snack in its own right, but can also be added to cakes, cookies, muesli and cereal and savoury dishes. 

Drying fruit in the sun is by far the easiest and cheapest method of preserving a glut in the hot summer months, especially here in central Portugal where temperatures range from 30-40+ degrees and the humidity is low. At this time of year I like to dry plums, figs, apples, and pears in my solar dryer (posh name for 5 old fridge racks rescued from the skip and strung together with baling twine, covered in a mosquito net and hung on the washing line), or by simply spreading them out on a cloth in full sunlight and turning a blind eye to the ants that congregate on them. By the time the fruit is fully dried the ants have usually left. 

If you don't live in a hot, dry climate, fruit can be dried in an airing cupboard, in racks over a wood-burner, in a dehydrator or in the oven on a low heat (50-70C or 20-160F) with the door left open a crack to encourage air flow and let the moisture out - just adapt the following instructions to whichever method you're using. 

All fruit can be dried, but it's down to personal preference which are worth doing and which aren't. For instance, I tried drying blackberries but because they have such a high moisture content they took ages to dry and lost all their flavour so I decided I was better off freezing them. I suspect this is the same for other juicy berries and currants. Here are a few of my favourites:

Plums:

Wash the plums, cut into halves or quarters, and lay them out, fleshy side up in the sun until they're dry. If nights are humid, bring them indoors. If you want them to dry faster, cut smaller pieces. Once fully dry, store in airtight containers.

Dried plums make a tart, chewy, but tasty snack. They're not to everyone's liking so make a few to test first before drying a large quantity.

Pears:

Wash and peel  the pears, then cut them into quarters and remove the cores along with any bruised flesh. Slice them into thin pieces (the thinner they are, the fast they'll dry) and place them in a dryer or on baking trays in the sun. If nights are humid bring them in at the end of the day and put them back out again in the morning until pears are sufficiently dried. The drier they are, the longer they'll keep but if you plan on eating them within a month or so you can leave them a little on the chewy side. I find them tastier that way. Store in air-tight containers.

Figs:

If it's very hot, simply put freshly harvested, washed figs in a drier, on baking trays, or on cloths in direct sunlight.  This works best with small figs. For larger figs, or if temperatures are a little cooler, slice the figs into halves or quarters to help speed up the drying process. Once dried, store in an airtight container, dust with rice flour, and eat as a healthy snack.

Apple rings:

Wash and peel the apples, then with an apple corer take out the middle. Slice cross-ways and thread a string through the rings. To prevent them oxidising and turning brown,, dip them in a bowl of water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in. Hang the rings between two posts or two branches in direct sunlight and space them out so that they're not touching. After a few days they should be chewy and dry enough to store.