8
Lemon juice—
Mix equal parts lemon juice and cold water. Place cut fruit in
solution and soak for 10 minutes. Remove fruit and drain well before placing on
drying trays.
Place pieces of fruit on dehydrator trays in a single layer, close together but not
touching or overlapping. Refer to the Fruit Drying Guide on page 10 for suggested
preparation, pretreatment, and drying times. Dry fruit at 135°F or 57°C.
Determining Dryness
Refer to the Fruit Drying Guide on page 10 and begin checking the fruit at the
beginning of the average drying time range. Remove a few pieces of fruit from each
dehydrator tray and allow to cool to room temperature. Fruits are acceptably dry
when they are soft and pliable, but not sticky. Fruit folded in half should not stick
together. Apple and banana slices can be dried until crisp, if desired. If fruits seem
to have a lot of moisture remaining, recheck every 1 to 2 hours. If fruits appear to be
almost done, check again in 30 minutes. Always check fruits from each tray.
Conditioning
After drying, allow fruit to cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour before packaging. Dried
fruits may have uneven amounts of moisture remaining because of differences in the
size of various pieces. Although fruit appears to be dry, there may still be moisture
remaining in some of the individual pieces. Conditioning is a procedure that can
be used to more evenly distribute moisture, which will reduce the chances of mold
growth. It allows you to determine if you’ve removed enough moisture before you
put it into storage. To condition, place the pieces of fruit loosely in a clean plastic or
glass container and seal and let stand for 1 week. This will allow drier pieces of fruit
to absorb excess moisture that may be present in other pieces. Daily shake the jar to
separate the pieces and look for condensation. If condensation develops, remove the
fruit and dehydrate for additional time. After conditioning, follow “Packaging and
Storage” information on pages 6 and 7.
Uses
Dried fruits make great snacks. They can also be added to trail mixes, cereals, muf-
fins, breads, and other baked products. Dried fruit can be used as is or softened prior
to use. To soften dried fruit, submerge in boiling water and soak for 5 minutes or
place fruit in a steaming basket over a pot of boiling water and steam for 5 minutes
or until fruit is plumped.
Fruit Rolls (Leather)
Fruit rolls (or fruit leather) are made by drying a thin layer of puréed fruit on a flat
surface. Once dried, the fruit layer is pulled from the surface and rolled. The term
leather derives from the leather-like texture of the puréed fruit once it is dried.
Almost any fruit or combination of fruit can be puréed and dried for fruit leather. The
quality of the fruit leather depends on whether the fruit has a low or high amount of
the naturally occurring starch called pectin. Fruits that have a high amount of pectin
will make leathers that bond together in a solid sheet and easily peel, while fruits that
have little pectin will flake and crack rather than peel. When making leather with
