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Dried
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.
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