Booklet Solar Drying

7/27/2019 Booklet Solar Drying

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/booklet-solar-drying 1/4

THE GAIA-MOVEMENT

BOOKLETNO 2

HOW TO:

GET VITAMINS YEAR ROUNDSOLAR DRYING

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE

www.gaia-movement.orgwww.gaia-movement.org

How to use the dried frui t and vegetable

! as snack! in porridge - pound the dried fruit and add to

cooked porridge

! as a drink - pound, sieve to remove fibres and addboiling water

! dried vegetables can be boiled - short time - to-gether with beans or other ingredients for meals



* 2 *

Get vitamins year round solar drying

fruit and vegetable

Idea

The idea is to build and use solar driers to dry fruitand vegetable so vitamins can be available out of thefruiting seasons.

IntroductionFruit and vegetable contain many vitamins - espe-cially Vitamin A and C. Especially for growing chil-dren it is very important that they get enough of these.

The first 6 months the child gets A vitamin throughmother’s milk. So pregnant and breastfeeding moth-

ers should also make sure they get sufficient VitaminA.

Vitamin A is made from the yellow and orange col-our (Beta Carotene) in fruit or vegetable. So to getvitamin A it is good to eat carrots, mangoes, papaya(pawpaw) but also tomatoes and cabbage are a goodsource.

Vitamin A is important because it:

! prevents infections! keeps eyes healthy! is required to grow well

* 7 *

chopped vegetablessieve

boiling water with salt

stones

firewood

! Remove the slices and drain of the syrup! Continue as with mangoes and bananas

How to dry vegetable

Many green leaves are good for drying. They should

like the fruits be cleaned well and cut in smaller pieces. To keep many vitamins and to keep a fresh colour itis good to blanch them before drying.! Water with salt is boiled! The vegetables are put in a clean cloth or basket! Hard vegetables (kale etc) are dipped in boiling

water 3 minutes! Softer leaves like spinach dipped for 2 minutes! Immediately after taking them up, dip in cold

water! Spread on trays, dry until crispy dry and pack like

the fruits

Blanching of vegetables



* 3 *

Good sources for vitamin C are oranges, lemon andlime, but also guava, green pepper, rape and othervegetables have much of it.

Vitamin C is important because it:

! prevents infections! produces brain and nerve substances! controls blood cholesterol levels! makes the body better at getting iron from the

food

The best way to get vitamins is to eat the fresh fruits.But fruits like mangoes are plentyfull for a few monthsonly. They often go to waste or are sold much too

cheap because there are too many. By drying themangoes it is possible to have a vitamin source thewhole year round.Many fruits and vegetable are good for drying:Mango, bananas, guava, papaya, pineapple, tomatoesand green vegetablesExperiment with fruits from your local forests -Mahobohobo, morula etc. They are also filled withvitamins and plentyfull for short periods.

If you dry fruit and vegetable directly in the sun mostof the vitamins are lost. But in a solar drier most of the vitamins are kept. It is simple to build a solar drier.

* 6 *

How to dry fruit

It is important to use firm and ripe fruits. Do not useoverripe fruits.

Mangoes and bananas

! wash well in clean water (scrub - if mangoes)

! peel and cut in thin slices so they dry fast! dip in lemon juice and water (20:1) - then less vita-

mins are lost! spread on a tray made of bamboo, plastic, sisal -

metal destroys vitamins! cover the drier at night and if it rains. Or take it

inside.! dried after 3-4 days, when dry but still leathery -

they do not break

! pack in plastic bags, close well and make small holes! keep in dark and dry place - for example in a mealy

meal bag - hanging inside the house so rats andmice do not eat them.

Guavas and papapya (pawpaw)

As for mangoes but they should be dipped in a syrupmade of lemon juice mixed with sugar.! Lemon juice is mixed with two parts of water.

This is heated gently and the double amount of sugar is gently dissolved by stirring

! Continue stirring until it cools! Wash the firm ripe fruits! Remove seeds and threads and cut thin slices! Immediately after cutting dip slices in the syrup

and hold for 15 minutes



* 4 *

Instruction

How to bui ld the solar dri er

Different models can be made. All look like a box andhave a tray inside where fruit and vegetable are placed

for drying. This tray can be made of bamboo or strawand must allow air to flow through. Mosquito net orother plastic netting can also be used.

The sides of the can be made of timber or metalsheets. Then you can easily move the drier to the placeyou need it, turn it so it gets most sun and move itinside if it rains. Or you can make a fixed drier usingbricks or clay.It is important that there are holes in the sides so

new air can come in to dry the fruit.

In the simplest model a box is covered with a frameof black plastic. The fruit and vegetable should notget direct sunlight - that is why black plastic is used.

You can also divide the box in two parts - but still soair can move from one to the other:

! the heating part. Use clear plastic or glass to getmore solar energy inside. You can also paint theinsides black - or carefully burn the planks black

! the drying part. Here black plastic is used. The trayfor drying is placed here.

* 5 *

This model should be placed so the heated air - fromthe heating part - moves up through the drying part.Hot air will always go up just like smoke.

You can make a system so the drier can be turned toface the sun always.It is also good to make a system so you can openmore or less where the air goes out (the top end). I f

it gets too hot in the drier you can then open more.Further improvement can be that the end can beopened so the tray or trays can be placed withoutmoving the plastic top.

clear plastic in heating chamber

heating

drying chamber

black plastic on a frameair passage

Portable indirect solar drier

Booklet Solar Drying

Documents