Making your own raisins from grapes is not as difficult as it sounds at first glance. In fact, all you need to prepare them is grapes and patience, because the process in which ordinary grapes turn into golden raisins takes time.
You can prepare raisins from all dessert grape varieties. The only condition is that the grapes are well-ripened, free of diseases and mechanical damage, and free of seeds. Suitable grape varieties are Flame Seedless and King Ruby.
For the production of homemade raisins, equal-sized and grains of the same color with a fleshy consistency are picked out. The grapes must have at least 22 percent sugar content, so that the sugar content of the raisins can then reach 70-75 percent. In these varieties, the water content is reduced to 14-16 percent.
The selected grapes are boiled for no more than 3-4 seconds in a 0.3-0.4 percent boiling aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate. If possible, it is good to fumigate white grape varieties with sulfur dioxide.
The actual drying process is up next, which takes place in the sun or in the shade, in special dryers. The grapes treated in soda solution are placed on white paper, away from insects and pests and dried in the sun for 7 days. Then they are turned over and dried for another 7 days.
This is followed by careful blowing with a fan and storing in cloth bags. Here's how, with a little effort, you will have homemade raisins on hand all winter long before summer, with which you can prepare a delicious banana cake or rice pudding.
Find out what the benefits of consuming raisins are or find out how raisins help in folk medicine.
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