Whether you have children in mind that need to eat healthier, or you are looking for a way to put more fruit into your own diet, making your own dried fruit can be a great way to get you out of a dietary rut. It can also help make sure that you are getting all the vitamins and natural sugars that are so healthy for you. The price of dried fruit can be a little high, however, and it will only be a matter of time before you realize that it is probably just as easy and cheap to dry the fruit yourself.



If you want to make a decadent, delicious dessert, you might like to top your jello recipe with some dried fruit. This makes it both better looking and healthier. Adding dried fruit to the sides and top of the jello cake is simple once you have the fruit. Making your own dried fruit is simple and cheap. It is also a lot of fun so if you have kids you can get them to help you. Before you head out for your bananas and apples, keep reading for some tips.

If you can get a food dehydrator, this is the most simple, straightforward, and reliable way to dry your fruit. This device allows you control the temperature, the speed of drying, and practically everything involved with the process of drying out whatever fruit you choose to put into it. It can also dry fruit without taking up valuable stove time, which is a plus for the busy individual. In a food dehydrator, fruits like apples and pears will dry at a stable 135 degrees Fahrenheit and come out looking great.

If you want to dry your fruit using the old fashioned method instead, this is equally straightforward. First of all, choose some fruits to dry. Bananas and apples are popular choices and are good if this is the first time you are drying fruit. You need to cut the fruit. If you cut it into thin slices, it can be dried more quickly. In addition, thin slices look beautiful on a jello recipe.

Next, you need to prepare the fruit. A lot of fruits go black or brown they exposed to the air for a while, so you will need to soak them in a solution. You can use ascorbic acid, lemon juice, and honey and water or fruit juice containing plenty of citric acid. This will keep your fruit's color and needs to be done also with fruit you are going to dry in a food dehydrator.

There are several ways to dry your fruit after you have prepared it. For instance, you can use a plastic needle to thread your fruit onto clean cotton thread and set up a rack in the sun. This method can take a few days, depending on juicy the fruit is. Remember to put down a cloth to catch any drips. You can also use a conventional oven. To use this method, put down some wax paper over a cookie sheet and lay the fruit slices on it, without letting them touch each other. Set the oven to about 175 degrees and let it simply cook for a while. This will take several hours but do not turn the oven up to speed the process!

Your fruit is done when you decide it is ready, so get experimenting because making dried fruit is a lot of fun and it is gorgeous when added to a jello recipe or other mouthwatering dessert.