How do they dry dried fruit?

Factual Questions
1

Ok, my first thread here.

You see, my mom has been lately buying this bags which contain dried fruit like, say, coconuts, melons, oranges and so, chopped in small thin pieces.

This morning she was eating those things when I told her “Whoa! I wonder how they manage to turn juicy fruit into such small chips”.

“I don´t know”, she replied, " why don´t you post the question in that web page you´re visiting for hours when you could be doing something more productive?"

Maybe it was a joke, but here I am and the question is posted.

I´m waiting for your enlightment.

Oh, and thanks in advance.

2

Usually they’re dried in ovens, but they can also be sun-dried, and occassionally freeze-dried.

3

Dry your own fruit at home.

4

You can sun dry apricots and make raisins out of grapes by the same method.

However, food processing companies use drying machines of various types, gas, electric, vacuum, etc… You can get a line on them by searching for “food dryers” in any good search engine.

5

Fruit can be dried with heat (the usual), or with chemical agents that absorb moisture IIRC.

6

[smartass]

In response to the the question “How do they dry dried fruit?”:

They don’t. They dry fresh fruit.

[/smartass]

7

You can buy fruit dryers. My friends i Utah (where having a stock of preserved food is a religious virtue) had such fruit dryers.

As mentioned above, you can also freeze-dry fruits, although these are hard to come by, outside of hikers’ fare. Too bad, because I love freeze-dried apples. A vending machine at on of the schools I attended used to stock them. They’re damned hard to come by, though.

8

Or, if you really like dried fruit, go for the Model C-1 Columbia Tray Dryer

The complete line of commercial dehydrators

9

Arrrrhh…Arrrrrhh…Arrrrrhh!! Dried fruit good.

10

I use an American Harvest dehydrator for jerky, fruit, veggies and herbs. It paid for itself in the first week just making jerky.

11

Interesting Thread.

As an aside, How many dried fruit products contain sulfites? I recall finding sulfites on packaged tropical fruits.

IIRC, sulfites, such as sodium sulfite, will deplete oxygen.

12

I always thought that dried fruit and fruit juices came out two different doors at the same factory…

13

You “comedians” are always stealing material. This is nothing but a switch on that ancient gag:

How do you get down off an elephant?

You don’t. Down comes from ducks.

14

http://store.ronco.com/shop/dehydrator/

15

I believe they are added to prvent fungus and mold growth. And I always thought raisins were dried in the sun . . . which makes no sense in this fast paced post-industrial age.

16

I’ve always hated that people call it a hot water heater, it’s not, it’s a cold water heater. But now where getting really off track.

17

Nah, I think he is stealing the old “What do you put in a toaster?” line.

Bread of course. Most people tend to say “toast.”

18

Like Turbo Dog, I have the American Harvest unit. I’ve made jerkey, dried bannana chips, dried apples. Dried bannana chips take about 12 hours.

19

Plum in one hand + handheld electric hair dryer in the other hand + about 30 minutes = do-it-yourself prune!

…or not.

20

Thank you all, you´ve been very helpful. Now I´m considering about starting a thread about “how can I stop my mother from drying fruit?”…