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Last fall a friend of mine was lamenting the lack of dried fruit available in the town we were living in. When she went home for the holidays, she returned loaded down with her fave wrinkly fruits and was blissfully satisfied...until her stash was gone a few weeks later.
We were students living in dorms without easy access to a kitchen, so drying our own fruit wasn't really an option. But now that I'm out living in the real world, I've started to realize there are tons of commercially prepared foods that I should really be making myself—dried fruit included.
Dried fruit makes for a healthy and tasty snack. Because fruits are dehydrated at a low temperature rather than cooked, the nutrients aren't degraded, so you're getting the most out of your fruit—raw foodists can't get enough of this stuff.
Most stores carry dried fruits these days, but there are benefits to drying your own. Most importantly, you'll know exactly what you're eating. While the odd company offers all-natural, no additives dried fruit, most brands are packed full of the sugar and preservatives such as sulfites. Drying your own fruit is also cheaper than buying dried fruit-and a whole lot cheaper than buying organic dried fruit.
There are also eco-benefits. Drying your own fruit eliminates the carbon footprint of dried fruit-which is hefty when you consider the fruit has to be shipped to processing plants. Then there's the packaging...
If you're daunted by the effort, it's actually more an issue of time than anything else. Can't carve out an afternoon from your busy schedule to dry fruit? Get ready to multitask: have a fruit drying party with friends, spend some quality time with the kids drying fruit and baking, or simply catch up on reading or work as your fruit shrivels up in the oven.
If you're still making time constraint excuses, invest in a fruit dehydrator, which are more efficient at removing water from your fruits. Or make your own solar food dehydrator. Personally, I like making food by hand and I'm short on counter space, so I just dry my fruit in the oven.
How to Dry Fruit
Step 1: Find your fruit
Most fruits can be dried easily, but whatever you choose, be sure the fruit is ripe (but not over ripe!) and in good condition. You can dry apples, pears, apricots, bananas, peaches, berries, cherries-any fruit, really.
Step 2: Prep
Wash or peel fruit, then pit or core them. Slice your fruit to any thickness you choose, keeping in mind the thicker the slices, the longer it will take them to dry. Be sure to keep slices uniform or else some will be too dry while others won't be dry enough. Fruits with skins—blueberries, apricots, cherries—should be washed well and dried whole.
Step 3: Take a dip
Steaming fruits before you dry can speed up the process—3-5 minutes will do the trick. You can also prep these fruits and pears by letting them hang out in a bowl of lemon water—squeeze one lemon into 12 cups of water—for a few minutes.
Step 4: Drying
Line a baking sheet with parchment and place slices of fruit on the sheet, making sure the pieces of fruit aren't touching each other. Place trays of fruit into the oven and turn on the oven to 90°F to 150°F. Then just sit back and wait, as it will take many hours for the fruit to dry. Resist all urges to turn up the heat—you don't want to cook the fruit, just dehydrate it. Test the fruit every so often to see if it's ready-fruits should be chewy, not squishy, and if it's crunchy—well, you've gone a bit too far.
Step 5: Let it stand
Once the fruit is out of the oven, let dried fruit sit out overnight (at least 12 hours) before packing it away in containers.
Step 6: Chill out
It's a good idea to freeze the fruit for several days in a deep freezer (not a refrigerator freezer, as they're not quite cold enough), or heat the fruit in an oven at 175°F for 10-15 minutes to zap any insect eggs that may be living in the fruit.
And just like that, you have your own dried fruit. Sure, it may take a while, but at the end of the day you'll have some fantastic, healthy dried fruit perfect for those mid-day and late-night cravings!
Cara Smusiak writes on behalf of NaturallySavvy.com about how to live a more natural, organic and green lifestyle.
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