Dangerous Food: Dried Fruits

The truth about Dried Fruits

Before we reveal the truth, let's get one thing cleared, to qualify as naturally dry, normal fruits need to be dried, by the most direct means with no artificial additives. Dried fruits have their advantages and disadvantages, let's take a look at some of them;

Advantages

• Drying fruits helps prolong the fruit's shelf life altogether, so when a particular fruit goes out of season, the substitute is the dried version
• Sometimes, being smaller than most fruits, they are relatively easy to carry around in packets, making them a perfect on-the-go snack idea
• They are sweeter sometimes, the added sugar makes them even more tastier than normal fruits
• They are known to be high in calcium, vitamins and minerals
• Naturally dried fruits are known as great energy boosters
• They are a replacement for regular sugar
• They are high in fiber, help lower blood pressure in some cases, keep your stomach satisfied

Disadvantages

• If they are processed, they increase the amount of sugar, which isn't healthy
• After they are dried, the applied heat is known to reduce heat sensitive substances like Vitamin C
• They are known to increase the overall calorie count, if you are someone who wants to limit calories, you will have to stay away from dried fruits
• They tend to go through a lot of processes that are not as healthy as they sound
• The dehydration process tends to rob these fruits of their nutritional value

So how are they prepared?

• The fruit, when picked up from farms is then taken up by the companies who process and then distribute dried fruit.
• The fruit in bulk cannot be dried so easily with mere dehydration quickly, so a few companies add sulphur dioxide in order to prevent discoloration of the fruit and to preserve them. This chemical addition ends up with the dried fruit containing traces of acrylamide too.

Can I dry them out myself without adding sulphur to the equation?

Yes you can, here's how;

• Find the fruit first, you can choose between apricots, apples, bananas, berries, coconuts and plums
• Slice them' up and wash them thoroughly, remove any sign of dirt too
• Dip the fruit slices in an ascorbic acid dip made by combining 2 tbsp. ascorbic acid or, another method is to blanch the fruit by putting slices in a steamer for five minutes then transferring them to an ice water bath to stop the cooking.
• You can choose to dry them up using the Sun, the most convenient way, but be sure the weather stays hot enough for around 3-4 days. You can also use the oven for a longer period of time if that is feasible, provided the oven is left at its lowest
• That's it.

So the truth is

Very simple, be moderate in this scenario. Take in dried fruits only occasionally, especially if you want to keep your calorie count in the healthy range.  It's better to dry these fruits up your way through the steps provided, stay away from packed ones that you find in the market, because they use more additives to increase the shelf life of the product. Overall, we suggest you use dried fruits as a snack, don't overdo it.