Dry fruits with a wire cooling rack
It’s hard to keep up with the season’s bounty. Piles of apricots, plums, cherries, figs, pears and persimmons litter the ground near my home from May through October.
So when patience evades me and I can’t bear to waste another pear, I do what many cultures have done with fruit for centuries (or millennia): I dry it.
According to FoodReference.com, drying is the oldest method of preserving food. High moisture content is why fresh produce and meat spoil so quickly – food that has been dried completely has the longest shelf life. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures use dried fruit as components in traditional cooking – you might recognize dates, tomatoes, figs, apricots and grapes (raisins) in common recipes. European settlers in America dried meat and corn.
Fortunately, despite common lore that you need an expensive dehydrator or endless sun and patience to make dried fruit, there is an easier way.
You can replicate the effect of a dehydrator with your oven set to its lowest temperature. For me, that’s 200 F. For some, it may be as low as 150 F or even 100 F. If you have a convection setting, it does wonders for the quality of the fruit once it is dried.
It also helps to have a drying rack with very small slits. A wire cooling rack with small, square holes works well for most medium- to large-sized fruit. While a wire rack cuts down on drying time, fruit can also be dried successfully without one.
Drying is time-intensive but requires little hands-on action. Try it on a lazy Sunday while you’re doing household chores, or even overnight if you’re comfortable leaving the oven on. You’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor for months to come.
Homemade Dried Fruit
Helpful hint: Dip fruit in citrus juice before drying to preserve color.
• Fruit of choice, pitted and cleaned. Halve large fruits
Bake approximately six hours. If you’re not using wire cooling racks, it could take as long as eight hours. Check fruit periodically and remove when desired consistency is reached.
You may enjoy plumper or more shriveled fruit – adjust time accordingly.
Once fruit is dry, allow to cool at room temperature for an hour before sealing in air-tight containers and storing.
If moisture content in sealed container is kept to a minimum, fruit should keep for up to six months.
