DRY FRUITS
Dried fruit is a
fruit that has been dried, either
naturally or also through use of a
machine, such as a dehydrator. Raisins,
plums or prunes and dates are examples
of excellent dried fruits. Other fruits
that may be good dried include apples,
apricots, bananas, cranberries, figs,
mangoes, pawpaw, peaches, pineapples,
pears and tomatoes
A good dried fruit has a long shelf
life and therefore it also can provide
a good alternate to fresh fruit, allowing
out of the season fruits to be available.
Drying is a very famous way to preserve
fruit in absence of the
refrigeration. Dried fruit is very
often added to baking mixes, breakfast
cereals and making cake. Dried fruit
is always being increasingly seen
as a healthy snack and since the public
is prepared to pay more for the snacks
than staples, the quality is improving
all the time.
Due to the water loss during the
dehydration, which may be as high
as 7 parts out of eight, dried fruit
has a stronger, more intense of flavor.
However the drying process destroys
most of the Vitamin C in the food,
hence that the dried version of the
fruit has always been only a fraction
of the levels of Vitamin C that would
exist in the fruit if it were fresh
and good.
Commercially prepared dried fruit
could contain sulfur dioxide which
could trigger asthma in individuals,
though dried fruit without sulfur
dioxide is also very much available,
particularly in good health stores.
The sulfur is added to "fix"
the colour of the product. "Organic"
dried fruit is produced without sulfur
which could results in dark fruit
and the flavor is much more characteristic
of the fresh fruit. The color of some
dry fruits can also be "fixed"
to an extent, with minimal impact
on the flavor, 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
prior to drying.
There are two types
of dry fruits. They are
Dehiscent Dry Fruits
These are the fruits that are opening
to discharge
seeds that are they open
on their own to shed seeds in to the
environment. These dehiscent dry fruits
come in different types depending
on how they open up to shed seeds.
They are:
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Follicle develops from a
single carpel and therefore has seed(s)
in one locule. The example of the
follicle fruit is magnolia.
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Legume develops from a single
carpel with one locule, but it differs
by splitting along both sides of the
fruit to shed its seeds. The example
for the legume type is green bean,
navy bean, and pea.
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Capsule are fruits derived
from compound ovaries. They have many
openings. The example for this type
is poppy fruit.
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Pods derive from a single
carpel, too, but they are different
to follicles, that they open both
sides.
Indehiscent Dry Fruits
These are the variety that they
are not opening to discharge seeds,
that is they fail to open in any way
and are shed as a fruit for dispersal.
These indehiscent dry fruits come
in different types that include:
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Achene The fruit is separate
from the seed coat, so the seed is
contained in a defined locule, and
it is a small, one-seeded fruit. An
example of achene is strawberry.
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Caryopsis These are fruits
with the seed stuck to the per carp.
The example of Caryopsis is rice,
wheat, corn, and oats.
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Cypsela This fruit is a small,
one-seeded dry fruit that has an accessory
layer on its fruit because the ovary
was inferior in the flower. An example
of Cypsela is sunflower fruits.
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Nuts are fruits with a stiffened
per carp, covered with a cupules at
the base. An example is the filbert
nut.
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Samara These varieties give
small one-seeded dry indehiscent fruits
and develop a larger wing-like outgrowth.
The example of this type includes
ash, elm. |
