A different kind of sweet fruit: Dried Fruit

Anyone who knows us at SanLucar knows that we love diversity. Whether it’s apples, bananas, tomatoes or peppers – we wouldn’t do without any of them. Many people don’t even realise: you can use most of the fruits for something other than cooking or baking – you can also make super delicious dried fruit out of them. Did you know that the drying of fruit is the oldest method of prolonging the edibility of fruit? In the meantime, this practice has practically disappeared. Thanks to ever-increasing health awareness, dried fruit has once again become a trendsetter. Honestly –  apple rings and the like aren’t just delicious to kid, right? 😉 And because it’s also super easy to make dried fruit in your kitchen yourself, we have written down an easy guide for you. Have fun trying this out!

Of course, you could also hang a string up in the room, hang fruit rings on it and wait for the fruits to dry. So that the water content drops quicker (down to about 20 percent), however, we decided to use the oven method. In principle, it is quite simple: Preheat the oven to 40° C, spread the fruit slices on baking paper on the oven’s grill and allow to dry for about 4-5 hours at 60-70° C. And to be sure it works the first time, here are a few tips:

Not every type of fruit and vegetable is equally suitable for drying. A sure thing is, however, e.g. apples, pears, plums, grapes, strawberries, kiwis, cherries, bananas, dates, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant or even olives. Make sure that you only use ripe varieties with no rotten spots or other types of damage.

Before the fruit is put into the oven, we recommend peeling it. And the cores should also be cut out. Then simply cut into thin slices – the thinner, the better! They’ll dry faster this way. Simply halve or quarter smaller fruits like grapes or strawberries. With light-coloured fruit, it is a good idea to splash them with lemon juice before drying. This keeps their colour bright and appetizing.

When the fruit has been prepared, spread the slices on the oven grill so that they are close to each other, but not on top of each other. Turn the slices over and over again. In order for the fruit in the oven to dry properly, the oven door should be kept slightly ajar. Simply place a cooking spoon or a cork in the gap.

When the fruits are dry, do not put them in storage containers right away. Let them cool down and dry for a few days in the air. They can then be placed in tightly closed jars. They last very long when stored in dark, cool and dry rooms. Bon Appetit!