Making Your Own Dehydrated Fruit – A Fun Snack

Making your own dried fruit is so easy to do. It only requires a little time cutting ripe fruit. And, a lot of patience as you wait on the delicious snack. This fun snack is worth the wait, though. The taste is so much better than that of the store bought alternative! Here’s what you should do if you are interesting in making your own dehydrated fruit.:

You’ll Need:

  • Ripe fruit – examples include: pineapple, apples, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, clementines, kiwi, mango, bananas…yum
  • 12 cups of water in a large bowl
  • 1 lemon
  • Baking sheets with parchment paper
  • Oven set on lowest temperature (around 150)

Now,:

  • As always, rinse your fruit
  • Core any fruit that contains seeds, and slice it up – try to keep the slices uniform so they dry at an equal pace
  • DIY Dehydrating Fruit
  • Squeeze your lemon into the bowl of water and stir in
  • Place fruit slices in the water and let them soak for a few minutes
  • DIY Dehydrating Fruit
  • Drain. You can also spread the fruit out onto paper towel and pat dry to speed up drying time
  • DIY Dehydrating Fruit
  • Spread out onto baking sheets – pat dry
  • Place the fruit into the oven
  • Set a spoon in the door to keep the oven somewhat ajar – this helps the steam from the fruit escape
  • Now, wait. It will take at least 4 hours. And may take up to 12. Mine dried out within 6 hours
  • Keep checking in on it – Taste tests may be required! 🙂 Oh, and take a sniff – it smells so, so good!

** Some things I learned with my first attempt

  • Place the same type fruit onto the same sheet. Separate it out. Apple slices on one tray. Pineapples and oranges on another and so on…These fruits may all stagger in drying time, and separating them to begin with will help you eliminate the dried fruit.  Keep going with the fruit that still needs time.
  • Place the fruit (while it’s still warm) that you think is dry into a clear plastic bag. Seal it. Watch for condensation. If none appears, you’re good to go. If some does appear, set it back into the oven for some more drying time
  • The fruit should not be crunchy. You’re looking for soft and dry – you should be able to fold the apples without them breaking
  • Next time, I plan on doing this in the evening, and letting it dry out over night!
  • DIY Dehydrated Fruit
  • You should let the fruit set out in the open air for 12 hours so steam can continue to evaporate
  • Then, seal it up

Some resources I used to dry my fruit:

Kitchen Stewardship

TLC Cooking – How to dry fruit

~Melissa – KidFriendlyThingsToDo.Com – A site providing fun foods, party ideas, kid friendly crafts, recipes, and fun things to do with the whole family.

 

 

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