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15
Fruit Dehydration Tips
Dried fruit is a superb food treat Try it plain, as fruit leather, or in ice cream, cobblers
and pies. It’s hard to imagine a better tasting, more nutritious snack than dried fruit.
Dried fruit is naturally sweet, has no preservatives, and is inexpensive. Your food
dehydrator makes drying fruit easy.
With all fruits it is best to wash them before beginning. After that, most fruits just
need halving, coring or pitting, and slicing before placing them in the dehydrator.
Pre-treatment of Fruits
You do not have to pretreat fruits to get good results, but some fruits, such as
apples, pears, peaches, apricots and bananas tend to darken somewhat with drying or
storage beyond six to seven months. Although still edible when darkened, they tend to
not appear as tempting to the palate. If you don’t mind the change in color of your dried
fruit, there is no need to pretreat. Fruits like bananas turn brown without pretreatment,
but at the same time they become very sweet and bursting with pure banana avor by
simply slicing and placing directly into the dehydrator. For drying times of fruits, refer to
the “Fruit Timetable.”
To avoid this darkening the fruit pieces can be dipped in solutions of lemon,
pineapple, or orange juice, or ascorbic acid prior to dehydration. Dip the fruit in the
solution for two minutes. Drain on paper towels and place in drying trays.
Lemon, Pineapple or Orange Juice
Fresh or bottled lemon, pineapple or orange juices are the best because of their
natural sweetness. Pineapple and orange juice can be used full strength or diluted
to taste. If you use lemon juice it is best to dilute it with 1 part juice to 8 parts water
and soak the fruit pieces for two minutes. Be aware that the taste of these juices can
overpower the taste of the fruit being dried and may not always prevent discoloration of
food. Experiment with the dilution and soaking times to suit your tastes.
Ascorbic Acid
Crystalline ascorbic acid or products with ascorbic acid made for preserving fruits
for canning may be obtained from drug stores or from stores selling canning supplies.
Most grocery stores sell it with their canning supplies as well. Mix 1 tablespoon in four
cups of water and soak the fruit for about two minutes. Like lemon juice, the taste can
be quite overpowering, so experiment with concentrations and soaking times.
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