Drying Fruit – The Best Tips

Dry the fruit in the sun

If your fruit harvest falls in the summer months, it is best to use the cheapest option and dry the fruit in the sun.

• First, peel and core the fruit and then chop it.
• Place the pieces of fruit on a grid that you set up a little higher so that the air can circulate.
• Always leave a little space between the pieces of fruit. Of course, don’t stack the fruit on top of each other either: the fruit must get both air and sun.
• To protect your fruit from unwanted blackheads, place a fly veil over the trellis. If you want to make a lot of dried fruit, just take a mosquito net and put it over the fruit.
• During the drying process, you should turn the fruit regularly.
• Tip: Some types of fruit, such as apples, can also be easily stringed up.

Dry fruit in the oven

You can also dry the fruit in the oven. Except for the fly protection, proceed here in exactly the same way as when drying in the sun.

• Depending on the size of the pieces of fruit, it is better to use a baking tray instead of a grid.
• Set the temperature of the oven to 50 to 60 degrees.
• As high levels of moisture build up quickly in the oven, leave the oven door ajar.
• It will take a few hours for the fruit to dry. But the work is worth it because afterward, you have a tasty, healthy, and relatively low-calorie snack in between.

Dry fruit in the dehydrator

The alternative to the oven is the dehydrator, with the latter offering a number of advantages.

• One of the advantages of the dehydrator is that it is much more energy efficient than the oven.
• The machine has different compartments in which you place the prepared fruit.
• If you’re considering buying a food dehydrator, make sure it has temperature control. This is not the case with all dehydrators.
• Most dehydrators have a timer so the device turns itself off.
• However, the commercially available dehydrators also have a disadvantage: they do not take nearly as much fruit as the oven. If you have a large amount of fruit that you want to dry at once, it is best to use the oven.