Acne Q & A Archive: make dried fruit at home?

Back to Main forum index
Back to Current forum index

Author	Topic: make dried fruit at home?
karen 08-19-2002 07:39 PM	Hi Wai,hello everyone does anyone know an easy way to sun-dry fruit? I don´t suppose you let any fruit just lay in the sun... or is it that easy? Just ordered a years supply of brazil nuts and dried fruit, and came up with the idea(to late, of course) that there must be a way to make it at home... Any sugestions or websites?
Wai 08-22-2002 10:34 AM	These guys from "Virginia Tech" say that you need to heat all fruits before drying them: quote: "All sun-dried fruits and vegetables must be pasteurized to destroy insects. Place dried food evenly in shallow trays no more than 1 inch in depth. Vegetables should be heated at 150 degrees F for 30 minutes or 160 degrees F for 10 minutes. Fruits should be heated at 160 degrees F for 15 minutes."
Wai 08-22-2002 10:43 AM	These guys from Colorado State University say that pasteurizing isn't necessary, depending on the fruit (no pasteurizing required for figs, grapes, plums, prunes, melons, bananas, berries, cherries etc.), but that... quote: "Foods exposed to Insects (including fruit flies and Indian meal moths) before or during the drying process should be pasteurized to destroy insect eggs. Pasteurizing also helps remove excess moisture that may have been reabsorbed during conditioning." and that quote: "Foods should be dry enough to prevent microbial growth and subsequent spoilage" and that... quote: "Fruits dry in the sun in from 12 hours to four or five days"
Wai 08-22-2002 10:47 AM	When you submit the key words "sun", "drying" and "fruits" to the google search engine (for example), you will find many more websites about this issue. Maybe you can share your 'sun-drying experiences' with us?