This is something I have recently found and the kids absolutely love it! Dried fruits are the perfect snack for lunchboxes, after school, road trips or mixed in with their breakfast porridge or muesli. You can dry any foods you can imagine from strawberries to tomatoes but so far I have only experimented with fruits.

Dehydrating is the process of removing water from food and thus preserving it.  Dehydrating is done in a domestic electric dehydrator and as it heats the air inside the unit, it dries and circulates the air so that it absorbs the water in the food placed in the drying trays. It doesn’t cook the food as the temperature of the air is only low enough to dry the food.

Why should you dehydrate food you ask, well for a number of reasons:

• The main reason is the health benefits of dried fruits as snacks are greater than reaching for that pack of biscuits
• Home dehydrated foods don’t contain sulfur as a preservative which is in a lot of packaged dried fruits to preserve their colour, like apricots
• Cheaper than store bought dried fruit, you can buy fruits when they are on special and dehydrate and store
• Dehydrated fruits mixed with nuts make the perfect trail mix for an energy boost when on the go

Dehydrated foods are normally darker in colour and sweeter in taste. Dehydrated foods should be stored in airtight containers; if you are making large batches then it’s best to store them in the freezer.

Some of the many fruits that can be dehydrated are: Apples, pears, banana, oranges, kiwi fruit, peaches, apricots, plums, pineapples, cherries, blueberries and strawberries, but really any fruit you can imagine can be dehydrated.

Before our dehydrated fruits disappear I add them to our homemade granola mix and it’s the perfect breakfast. Here’s a simple recipe to add your dehydrated fruit to when you start dehydrating!

Fruity & Nutty Granola

Ingredients

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup bran
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2 cups flaked almonds
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup honey
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 ½  cups sultanas/raisins
• Dehydrated fruit of your choice, banana, pear, apple, strawberries etc

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan
• Combine all ingredients except sultanas/raisins and dehydrated fruit in a bowl and mix to coat
• Spread onto a greased baking tray and bake for  30 minutes whilst stirring every 10 minutes
• Mix in fruit, allow to cool and store in an airtight jar

Have you ever dehydrated any fruits and vegetables?