Dried fruit is a fruit that has been dried, either naturally or artificially by a machine, such as a dehydrator. Examples of dried fruits are raisins, plums or prunes and dates. Apples, apricots, bananas, cranberries, figs, mangoes, pawpaw, peaches, pineapples, pears and tomatoes are the other dried fruits.

A good dried fruit has a long shelf life and therefore it can be used as a good alternate to fresh fruit, which allows out of the season fruits to be available. Drying is a very well-known way to preserve fruit when there is no refrigerator. Dried fruit is mostly used in baking mixes, breakfast cereals and making cake. Dried fruit is a healthy snack and since the public is ready to pay more for the snacks than staples, the quality is improving all the time.

Because of the water loss during the dehydration, which may be as high as 7 parts out of eight, dried fruit has a stronger, more intense flavor. But the drying process destroys most of the Vitamin C in the fruit, hence that the dried version of the fruit has only a fraction of the levels of Vitamin C that is there in the fruit if it were fresh and good.

Commercially prepared dried fruit might contain sulfur dioxide which could cause asthma in individuals, though dried fruit without sulfur dioxide is also very much available, mainly in good health stores. The sulfur is added to retain the colour of the product. "Organic" dried fruit is prepared without sulfur which a=makes the fruit dark, but the flavor is much more characteristic of the fresh fruit. The color of some dry fruits can also be "fixed" to an level, with minimum impact on the flavor or taste, by treating the freshly cut fruit with a preparation rich in Vitamin C (e.g., a mixture of water and lemon juice) for the few minutes before drying.

Dehiscent Dry Fruits      Indehiscent Dry Fruits

Follicle

It develops from a single carpel and therefore seed(s) are in one locule. Magnolia is an example of follicle fruit. the fruits produced in Columbine and milkweed plants are known as a follicle. The Follicle fruit develops from a single ripened ovary and split only once to release their seeds in to the environment. The split for discharging seeds is always lengthwise, along one edge of the carpel. Follicles may occur individually, example - milkweed or in clusters, example - columbine. When the fruit splits it looks like a dry leaf and reminds us that carpels are modified leaves that first produce spores, then gametes and finally seeds.

The cone-like magnolia tree fruit is an aggregate of many small follicles, each has single bright red seed. The term apocarpous refers to flowers that has separate and distinct carpels, such as delphiniums and columbines of the buttercup family.

Legume

The legume splits along two lines of dehiscence subsequent to maturation and drying. The legume fruits are derived from a simple ovary that has one carpel with two rows of ovules. Peas, beans and peanuts are the examples of legume type. A peanut is not a nut in the botanical sense;it is one of the indehiscent legumes that will not split open when ripe. This is possibly because the peanut fruit is produced in the soil rather than in the air.

A legume is a plant or a fruit in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae). "Pod" is the common name for this type of fruit, even though pod is also applied to a few other fruit types.

Capsule

The capsule is also a type of dry dehiscent fruit. The capsule is composed of more than one carpel. For example, lily fruits split length-wise into several sections corresponding to the number of carpels. The Sweet Gum fruit which is a cluster of capsules discharge winged seeds as each ovary splits open at maturity.

A capsule is a dehiscent characteristic that is composed of two or more carpels, which splits apart (dehisce) to release the seeds, at maturity. In some capsules, the split happens between carpels, and in others each carpel splits open. In some others, seeds are discharged through openings or pores that form in the capsule. In the Brazil nut, a lid on the capsule opens, but it is very small to discharge the dozen of seeds within. These germinate within the capsule after it falls to the ground.

Cotton (Gossypium), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus), Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), Jimson Weed (Datura), Mahogany (Afzelia), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) are the plants that have capsule type fruit.

Indehiscent Dry Fruits

These are the fruits that does not open to discharge seeds, that is they will not open in any way and are shed as a fruit for dispersal. These indehiscent dry fruits come in different types that include:

Achene

The achene contains a single seed that stick to the wall of the ovary at a point. Seed coat is not merged with ovary wall. The matured ovary wall is also thin and immature so when it dries out the fruit developed has a seed-like appearance. Sunflowers, dandelions and buckwheat are the examples of achenes. Don't confuse while learning that the sunflower "seed" is actually a fruit. Remove the dried up wall of the fruit and the sunflower seed is found inside.

Very tiny and one-seeded fruit, generally produced in clusters. At maturity the pericarp is dry and not attached to the internal seed, except at the placental attachment. In the sycamore, the globose fruit heads has of tiny, one-seeded achenes interspersed with hairs.

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit that is developed by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (one carpel) and indehiscent (do not split at maturity) and contain a single seed that nearly occupies the pericarp (fruit layers), but does not adhere to it. Buttercup fruits and buckwheat fruits are the typical achenes. Achene is sometimes called as akene, and rarely called as achenium or achenocarp.

Caryopsis

The caryopsis is widely called a grain. A very small, one-seeded dry, indehiscent fruit in which the actual seed coat is completely merged to the ovary wall or pericarp. The outer layer of pericarp or husk is referred to as the bran, while the inner, seed layer is referred as the germ. caryopsis is the featured fruit of the large grass family (Gramineae or Poaceae). The grain is truly a fruit and not a seed because it came from a separate ripened ovary inside the grass inflorescence. Corn (maize), wheat, rice, rye, barley, oats, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass and many more species are the other examples of this type. In corn grains, the major white material that bursts when the grains are heated is endosperm tissue within the seed.

Grain type fruits are generated by members of the grass family which comprises main food crops such as rice, corn and wheat.

Nuts

Nut is very same in structure to the achene and the ovary wall is tough and woody. In nuts, the shell is the coat of the fruit, example in the acorn and chestnut. The coat is developed from the ovary wall after fertilization. Some nuts have a husk that covers the hard shell. In this case the husk is developed from the outer layer of the ovary wall and the hard coat of the nut is from the inner layer of the ovary wall. The examples of the type are walnuts and pecans. Nuts are fruits with a hardened per carp, covered with a cupules at the base.

Large, one-seeded fruit with hard pericarp, that is enclosed in a husk or cup-like involucre.

(1) Acorn of oak (Quercus): The actual nut lays in a cup-shaped involucre of imbricate (overlapping) scales.

(2) Chestnut (Castanea), beech (Fagus) & chinquapin (Castanopsis): One or more nuts lies in a spiny, cup-shaped involucre.

(3) Hazelnut or filbert (Corylus): Nut that is in a leafy (C. americana) or tubular (C. cornuta) involucre.

(4) Walnut (Juglans) and pecan (Carya) are grouped in the drupe category above, although some botanists maintain that they are true nuts. In true nuts, the hard, indehiscent layer surrounding the seed is the entire ovary wall or pericarp, and the outer husk is comprises of involucral tissue that is not part of the ovary wall or pericarp. According to most botanical references, the outer green layer (husk) of the walnut is part of the pericarp and the hard shell that surrounding the seed is truely the endocarp. Therefore, walnuts and pecans probably grouped the dry drupe category rather than a true nut.

Samara

A samara is a simple dry fruit in which a flattened "wing" of fibrous, papery tissue is produced from the ovary wall. A samara is bicarpellate (two carpels) and indehiscent (not opening along a seam) type. The shape of a samara allows the wind to carry the seed from the parent tree. A special form of samara is sometimes called a key, where the papery sheath widens far out to one side so that the seed spirals as it falls. Trees with rounded samaras are the elms (genus Ulmus) and the hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata). Trees with the extended keys include the maples (genus Acer) and the ashes (genus Fraxinus).

The Samara is a wind borne fruit that contains single seed. It is much similar to achene except for the paper-like wing which is produdec from the ovary wall of the flower. Ovary wall forms a winglike structure which is dry, frequently used for seed dispersal by wind. Samaras is similar to the winged seeds of a pine, but they are one-seeded fruits with a pericarp layer surrounding the seed. The leguminous tipu tree (Tipuana tipu) contains a winged fruit that certainly looks like a samara, although it belongs to the legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). Ash, elm are the examples of this type.