A year before the country was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, Tahmina Isayeva from Zaqatala district in northwest Azerbaijan started a small business of drying fruits in her kitchen.

“In the beginning it was my hobby to preserve fruits by drying them. We arranged fruits on the drying tray, spacing them for good air circulation, and then set the tray in the sun for some days. It is a traditional method, but it is a long process,”says Tahmina.