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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 nutri-
tious snack than dried fruit. Dried fruit is naturally sweet, has no preserva-
tives 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 pre-treat fruits to get good results. 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 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 pre-treat. Fruits
like bananas turn brown without pretreatment, but at the same time they
become very sweet and bursting with pure banana flavor 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 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 the food. Experiment with the dilution
and soaking times to suit your tastes.
Ascorbic Acid
Crystalline ascorbic acid 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 4 cups of water and soak the fruit for about two
minutes. Like lemon juice, the taste can be quite overpowering, so experi-
ment with concentrations and soaking times.
