Looking for a healthy snack that will fuel your body throughout the day and provide you with a nice clean boost of energy? Our Certified Organic, preservative free, 100% all natural dried fruits are the perfect rememdy! Great tasting, and full of nourishment.
If you are seriously into hiking, kayaking, surfing, scuba diving, cycling or orienteering, you should seriously include organic dried fruit in your supplies. Great for an on-the-go snack or a quick energy boost, when you have been working hard exploring the great outdoors dried fruit are compact, light, and convenient to carry.
Man’s affinity with dried fruit dates back to the Mesopotamian civilizations. Some of their baked clay tablets contain our earliest known recipes for dried fruit. Traditional dried fruits are either sun-dried or dehydrated in wind tunnels. And are not infused with a sweetener. Dried fruit enjoys a sustained track record of food safety. High drying temperatures, low pH, and low moisture content together with the presence of natural antimicrobial compounds give dried fruit a remarkably long life. There is no known incident of a food-borne illness transmitted via dried fruit.
Drying is the world’s oldest ways of preserving food. Early European settlers frequently ate dried apple, currants, and grapes, in America. Drying eliminates moisture from the food resulting in a longer food life. Foods that have been completely dried have the longest shelf life as the organisms that cause food to spoil need moisture to survive.
So, the next time you have a between-meals craving while you are enjoying some healthy outdoor exercise, don’t interrupt your experience, and simply reach into your pack or pocket for a selection of organic dried fruit and snack away. They are a fabulous way to satisfy your energy needs while remaining healthy.
A Healthy Choice
In moderation, dried fruits can make an excellent contribution to your daily diet. Many of your favorite dried fruits come packed with nutritious vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Dried fruits are also handy for getting nutrition on the go: whether you are enjoying the great outdoors or working through lunch in the office, dried fruits offer a convenient and delicious way to enjoy some essential nutrients.
Happily, your dried fruits deliver an abundant supply of monounsaturated fats and dietary fiber helping to protect your heart by lowering bad cholesterol (LDL). Dried fruits like raisins and cranberries also come bearing a heady dose of vitamins and antioxidants to refresh your immune system, while apricots and mulberries are excellent for a potassium boost. All in all, dried fruits are a great snack and a fabulously healthy treat rolled into one!
Popular Types of Dried Fruit
Dried fruit are available whole, chopped or finely diced. Some of our most popular dried fruits include:
- Apricots
- Coconut Smiles
- Cranberries
- Figs
- Mango
- Medjool Dates
- Pineapple
- Prunes
- Sour Cherries
- Thompson Raisins
- Black or White\Mulberries
Serving Size
While a recommended single serving of fresh fruit is 1 cup, when the fruit has been dehydrated, a single serving is only one-half of a cup.
Calorie Count
Always remember dried fruit is higher in calories as they are more concentrated once the water has been removed through the drying process.
Dried Fruit Fun Facts
Ancient Egyptians accepted that a man’s wealth buried with him for his journey to the afterlife should reflect his wealth and status. Dried fruit was a valuable trade item so when Egyptian pharaohs died, dried fruits were included amongst their burial goods in their tombs. Here are some more fun facts about dried fruit:
- The early Phoenicians and Egyptians drove the popularity of dry fruits, particularly as their trading voyages they penetrated in western markets
- Dried grapes have been highly prized throughout history. King David’s kingdom used them to pay taxes
- Christopher Columbus took dried fruit on his voyage of discovery to the New World
- Robert E. Peary’s conquest of the North Pole in 1908 was helped by supplies of dried fruit
- Astronaut Scott Carpenter took dried fruit with him into outer space in 1962
- Dried fruit contains up to 3.5 times the vitamins, minerals, and fiber of fresh fruit by weight
- The pleasant of grapes drying on the vines was one of civilization’s earliest discoveries
- In medieval France, dried grapes were a romantic love token.
Dried Fruit Is Convenient
Aside from its nutritional value, dried fruit is super portable. It doesn’t weigh much and you can break it into pieces to stretch it further. You can easily carry some dried fruit with you wherever you go either on your morning commutes or on your next outdoor adventure or road trip.
Organic Or Not
Conventionally grown fruit require the use of pesticides, which are potentially damaging to both our physical and environmental health. By choosing organic, you are not only doing something good for your overall health but also supporting a more sustainable environment. So, always look for an organic dried fruit.
Storage Tips & Shelf Life
Most dried fruits will last for up to a year beyond their "best by" date provided they are kept in a cool, dark position. They can be frozen almost indefinitely.
Enjoying Your Dried Fruit
Organic dried fruits are absolutely scrumptious just as they are. However, dried fruits are delicious in a range of recipe ideas:
- Sumptuous as part of a breakfast mix with muesli, oatmeal, or granola
- Brilliant in fresh fruit and savory based salads
- Dried fruit is fabulous in home-made energy bars, cookies, muffins, and cakes
- Goes well in pie and tart fillings and in desserts, crumbles, compotes, rice puddings, sorbets, gelato and ice cream
- Many dried fruits are famously delicious in jams once they have been rehydrated
- Pair well with honey, yogurt, egg custards
- Fabulous in Asian dishes such as chicken, pork, duck, and prawns
Tip: To chop dried fruits finer without the fruit continuously sticking to your knife, dunk your dried fruit in a little flour first, or use kitchen scissors to clip them into finer chunks. Before you use dried fruit in baking soaked them first to rehydrate them.