If you really like a variety of sweets, but the finished industrial products repels with its not entirely natural composition, then homemade strawberry candy is just what you need.
For its preparation, you will not have to buy any exotic products, it is enough to prepare ordinary strawberries, sugar and, possibly, several other common ingredients (depending on the recipe).
The pasta prepared by the drying method will be an excellent alternative to purchased candies or marmalade, especially since it is stored for much longer.
Selection and preparation of strawberries
The first and most important stage on the way to obtaining high-quality and tasty strawberry pastila is the choice of good raw materials, that is, strawberries themselves. In this situation, the sweetness of the fruit is especially important, because the taste of the final product directly depends on this criterion.
That is why it is worthwhile to give preference to overripe strawberries and, if possible, avoid undersized fruits, as they always differ in characteristic sourness. The next thing you should pay attention to when buying - the appearance of the purchased goods.
If the strawberry is too large, it is likely that it was grown using a large amount of nitrates, however, this does not apply to varieties that are already characterized by large fruits. Also during the inspection, make sure that no rotten or moldy specimens come across, because they often become the causative agents of a number of diseases. 
And do not forget that the final color of the finished pastes directly depends on the saturation of the color of the raw materials, so the brighter the strawberries, the better, of course, if the shade is natural and there is no reason to suspect the use of chemicals.
We recommend you read about the beneficial properties of strawberries.
If you wish, you can even smell the selected product, especially since the strawberry flavor depends largely on the place and conditions of its growth. In the greenhouse usually grow fruits with a deep and rich strawberry odor, while homemade, grown in the garden strawberries will be lost on their background.
However, it is even good, because, purchasing products from private individuals, you are more likely to get natural and environmentally friendly raw materials for your strawberry pastila. At home, before preparing the dish, the purchased item must be prepared properly.
Important! Even when choosing the highest quality product you need to remember about the influence of the method of drying on the final result. The best option, many housewives believe the use of electric dryers, allowing you to save all the benefits of strawberries when creating a tasty marshmallow.
Strawberries are pre-soaked in cold water for a few minutes to allow dirt to settle. After that, it is washed several times, without breaking off the peduncle, so that the berries do not become watery. They are recommended to be cut off only after the berry is well washed.
Recipe in the dryer
As we mentioned earlier, the preparation of pastes with the use of electric dryers is the most successful way, so let's start with a recipe for its application. You can take strawberries of absolutely any size, as long as it is not spoiled.
Ingredients
To prepare pastes in this way, you will need:
- fresh strawberries - 1.5 kg;
- sugar - 150 g;
- sunflower oil - 50-100 g (for lubricating the drier of the electric drier).
As for the inventory, in addition to containers for washing berries, you will need a blender, trays for further storage of pastes and, in fact, the electric dryer itself.
Check out the advantages and disadvantages of the Ezidri Snackmaker FD500 and Ezidri Ultra FD1000 universal dryers.
Step-by-step recipe
In order for you to get a tasty and healthy pastila, cooked in a dryer, you must clearly adhere to all stages of its creation.
- To start, fill the strawberries with cold water and leave it for 1-2 minutes.
- Then gently mix it with your hands to better remove dirt from it, and move it to another container, repeating the procedure (water should be changed until it remains completely transparent and there is no sand at the bottom of the bucket or bowl).
- Next, all the fruits tear off the roots, thereby preparing them for processing in a blender.
- Peeled strawberries (1.5 kg) should be poured into the blender bowl to the very top, and pour the measured amount of sugar on top.
- The device must be set to the beating mode, and you can start its work (the beating process will take about 2 minutes).
- For further drying of the pastilles according to this recipe, an electric dryer with the function of drying liquid formulations is used, in particular, strawberry pastila we are interested in.
- The special tray of the device must be lubricated with a thin layer of sunflower oil so that the finished product easily lags behind it.
- One and a half liters of strawberry puree should be divided into two equal portions of 750 ml each and alternately pour them into the electric dryer.
Important! Pour the pastille should be carefully, starting with the outer part of the pan, as otherwise the liquid puree can overflow over the edge in the central part.
- Having placed the future pastille on the drier tray, you can level it with a simple shaking, resembling the sifting of flour through a sieve, it is not necessary to use a spatula or spoon for leveling.
- Another pallet is poured in the same way, and the rest after it, if the dryer is designed for a large number of them. However, in order to make the fruit candy quality and tasty, no more than 10-12 pallets should be used at the same time.
- When the strawberry puree takes its place in the electric dryer, it remains to set the temperature to +50 ° C and turn on the device (at higher temperatures all the useful substances will disappear, and the product itself will be too dry).
We advise you to read about how to properly dry grapes, melon, cherry, plum, cherry, rosehip, hawthorn, apples, bananas, beets, greens, basil, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, mushrooms.
The approximate drying time of strawberry pastilles is 24 hours, and you can check its readiness simply by touching it with your finger: if it does not stick and does not tear when removed from the pallet, then the product is ready. 
It remains only to roll each layer into a tight tube and, cutting it in half, send it to storage in a plastic container with a lid. Pastila in a tray is ideal for storage in a cool room or in a regular pantry.
Recipe in a zucchini dryer
It would seem that sweet strawberries cannot be combined with zucchini in any way, but some hostesses in practice prove their quite successful combination when cooking pastila, and the recipe itself does not differ in its increased complexity.
Ingredients
In this case, it is impossible to clearly define the number of all products used, since it depends on the taste preferences of each person.
However, on average, their list with the number will look like this:
- strawberries - 1-1.2 kg;
- zucchini - half of a not very large vegetable;
- sugar - 0.5 cups;
- vegetable oil - 50-100 ml (for greasing pallets of the dryer).
As for the inventory, you should prepare an electric dryer, a blender and a container for draining raw marshmallow.Important! All ingredients are taken in a proportion equal to one tab in the bowl of an average blender, but the more strawberries you have, the more other products you will need.
Step-by-step recipe
Cooking marshmallow with zucchini will not take more time from you than the standard procedure for creating it, and for the success of the process a certain sequence of actions should be maintained.
- As in any other case, you first have to thoroughly clean the strawberries and zucchini, as well as prepare the required amount of sugar.
- Then half of the blender bowl is filled with juicy fruits, on top of which the sliced zucchini is laid out and covered with sugar (if there is still room to the edges, you can additionally fill it with a small amount of strawberries).
- Close the lid and turn on the blender, waiting for the formation of a homogeneous slurry.
- Ready-made raw materials for pastes should be drained into a separate container, especially if a large number of layers are planned.
- Now you can get special pallets of electric dryers and lubricate them with a non-thick layer of sunflower oil so that the finished product can be easily removed (if possible, it can be replaced with melted lard).
- It is enough to pour 5-6 small scoops of liquid pastila on one tray, leveling the layer with this large spoon first, and then simply shaking the container. It is very important to avoid getting the mixture into the central part of the pan, otherwise it will flow into the electric dryer and may damage the device.
- In this way, all the containers of the electric dryer are filled (remember that to get a quality product you should not use more than 10-12 pieces), and, after being folded into the device, they will be ready for the drying process (on average at temperatures above +50 ° C the marshmallow will dry about 12-14 hours, which means that it is best to bookmark in the evening).
- The finished product is very easy to remove from the pallet, for which you just need to pick it up by one edge and pull it off. The resulting thin pancake roll into a tight tube and lightly crush the edges so that they do not stick together.
Important! If the marshmallow appeared to be a little too dry and does not roll up well, you can leave it for a while to stand in the room so that it pulls moisture out of the air and softens.
Twisted tubules can be cut with scissors into small, slightly bevelled pieces, which will be conveniently placed in almost any container for further storage.
If you like sweets, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with recipes for making cherries made from sweet cherry, strawberry, quince, Manchurian walnut, black currant, yoshta, wild strawberry, apricot, pear, physalis, sunberry, apple, cornel, plum.
Recipe in the oven
In the absence of electric dryers, you can make delicious strawberry marshmallow in an ordinary oven, and this process will not differ in increased complexity.
Ingredients
You will not need any special ingredients in this case, the list of necessary products looks like this:
- sweet strawberries - 1.5 kg;
- sugar - 2-4 tablespoons.
From the additional inventory (except for the blender and the container for draining the crushed raw materials) you will need a standard pallet, carefully covered with white parchment paper, which will make it easier to remove the finished product.Step-by-step recipe
Given the use of the oven, and not electric driers, the process of cooking strawberry pastila will have certain differences compared with the previous versions.
However, the preparatory activities take place according to the same scenario: first you need to wash and sort the strawberries (all berries should be without rot or other damage), and then cut them in a blender together with sugar until a homogeneous consistency.
All further actions take place in the following sequence:
- the baking tray should be carefully covered with parchment paper and a small amount of the future fruit candy should be poured onto it;
- You can flatten the mixture with a spoon or just shake the baking sheet so that on each side its thickness is no more than 2-3 mm;
- Containers with distributed paste are placed in an oven, preheated to +70 ° C, and left there for 8 hours;
- after this time, it remains only to get a strawberry dish and, carefully separating it from the parchment paper, cut into equal strips, rolling them into tubes.
For further storage, each tube can be additionally wrapped in plastic wrap and already in this form can be folded into a selected container or in a special package for storage in the refrigerator.
Did you know? It turns out that strawberry whitens teeth better than any toothpaste, you just grind it and put on their surface, leaving it for 10-15 minutes. Regularly performing such a procedure, you will notice positive results within a few weeks.
What products can be combined
There is simply a huge number of recipes for cooking strawberry pastila, and they are not always used only strawberries. However, to get a really tasty, sweet dish, every hostess needs to know about the rules for combining strawberries with other berries, vegetables and fruits.
Do not forget that by itself it is already quite sweet, so that the finished candy can get sweet and sour to the taste. This is especially important when choosing the right amount of sugar, which is very easy to overdo. 
When using it, the product turns out to be more delicate, but if you want to supplement your product also with a large number of useful substances, then you should replace the granulated sugar with plain honey. As an additional ingredient, you can use almost any berries and fruits, the presence of which will change not only the taste, but also the color of the marshmallow.
If you want it to remain very sweet, then you should avoid using currants and other sour crops, taking bananas, pears and sweet apples to replace. In addition, many housewives often mix together several types of pastes, seeking to obtain different shades and even patterns, which makes the finished product even more colorful and memorable.
In a word, in the matter of making strawberry pastila you have a wide space for creativity, because when you add fruits and berries that are completely different in composition and texture, it will become even tastier. Probably, this is the case when you will not spoil the “oil of porridge” or you will have to try very hard for this. 
How to store
As we have said, ready-made strawberry marshmallow must be rolled up into thick tubes and, after cutting into pieces (the size of the pieces, each is chosen at its discretion), sent to storage. For all this time, the product retains its beneficial properties, it is necessary to ensure the most favorable conditions for this.
For this purpose, many housewives use ordinary food film, in which they additionally wrap the pastille tubes before placing them in a plastic container or glass container.
When corked with conventional lids, the shelf life is about one year, but if you close the container with vacuum caps, it will increase to two years.
As for the specific storage place for a delicious and sweet strawberry tea supplement, it can even be the most ordinary household pantry, the main thing is that the temperature inside does not exceed + 20 ... +21 ºC with an air humidity of 70-80%. Alternatively, you can wrap the tubes in cling film and put them in a special freezer bag, sending them in the fridge (optional in the freezer).
Did you know? On our continent, such a popular strawberry appeared only in the XVIII century, although its ancestors, wild strawberries, our ancestors collected from time immemorial.
How can I use
Usually, if there are few strawberry pastila, then few people think about what to do with it, because it perfectly replaces cookies for tea or can be consumed in its original form simply as a delicacy.
And if there are a lot of blanks, then you have the opportunity to experiment a bit, adding various dishes with this delicacy. So, the marshmallow is great for baking (especially pies and confectionery) and can complement almost any sweet snack, although most often it is used as a filling for baking. 
Do not forget about the described delicacy and in the preparation of various drinks, because, in addition to the standard compote, it can be used as an additive to healing tea or as a filler for homemade yogurt.
Just filling the product with water, you will get very tasty jam, and the pastila twisted in a certain way will serve as a good cup for homemade ice cream. In a word, any of your culinary decisions with the participation of the described delicacy will definitely not be left unattended by guests and household members.
Useful tips for hostesses
Following from the above, the strawberry mint is an excellent alternative to purchased sweets, but in order to make it really tasty, the housewives need to adhere to certain requirements:
- when preparing the berries for processing, do not leave them in the water for a long time, especially if the tails are already torn off (the strawberry crawls out and the pastille will not have the proper viscosity);
- Be sure to grease the straw tray with sunflower oil or melted lard, and when using the oven do not forget about parchment paper;
- clearly maintain the drying temperature so as not to over dry the marshmallow, as it will crumble and not curl up (if this happens, just leave the “pancakes” in the room for 30-60 minutes and they pull the missing moisture out of the air);
- при использовании электросушилки избегайте затекания клубничной массы в центральное отверстие, ведь в дальнейшем это может послужить причиной проблем с прибором;
- To determine the exact amount of sugar used and not make the pastila too sweet, try the mass whipped in a blender before it is placed on the tray (in this case, you will immediately understand whether you need to add sugar or more strawberries);
- if honey is used instead of sugar, then rapeseed should be preferred because it crystallizes well and does not have a pronounced flavor (acacia honey, which is popular in the pastry business, often does not allow pastila to harden normally, making it soft and sticky).
Did you know? Regular excessive consumption of sugar can cause early wrinkles: it accumulates in the collagen of the skin (in reserve), thereby contributing to the loss of its elasticity. However, there is good news: with a decrease in the consumption of this product, the process starts in the opposite direction.In truth, the creation of strawberry pastila can be called an elementary task, but you will get a quality product only if you follow all the basic recommendations. And, of course, for long-term storage without losing its taste, you should always remember about the organization of suitable conditions.
