What's up with dried fruit?

April 29, 2009 6:29 PM

What's up with dried fruit?

So, I know that each prune is a whole plum minus the water. Is this true for all dried fruit? Upon eating a sprinkling of sun dried tomatoes today, I wondered if I was in effect consuming 7 or 8 tomatoes. Also, if this is the case, why do things like dried apricots, papaya, and so on have relatively little to offer in terms of fibre and other nutrition? (at least according to the info on the package) If each bite is a just the meat of the fruit minus the water, wouldn't each bite have the equivalent fibre/nutrition content of a whole portion?

Just curious. I've never made my own, so I'm not sure how it all works.

posted by shrimpsmalls to food & drink (11 comments total)

They have the calories.
posted by caddis at 6:35 PM on April 29

The desication process can cause chemical changes which may partially nullify things like vitamins.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:38 PM on April 29

Each prune is a whole plum minus most of the water and some of the vitamins.

Is this true for all dried fruit?

Yes.
posted by flabdablet at 6:57 PM on April 29

Sundried tomatoes are usually sliced first- that's why you can see the seeds on them.

Raisins, prunes, and apricots are the whole fruit. They dry the small ones, though- most raisins, in grape form, were smaller than the big inch-long grapes you see in fruit stores. The plumpest, biggest fruit would be sold fresh, and smaller varieties or runts dried. You can kind of see how big the original fruit was if you imagine stretching the skin again- the skin doesn't have as much water to lose as the flesh of the fruit, and this it wrinkles instead of actually shrinking: thus the skin on a dried fruit is close in size to the size of the actual fruit.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 7:17 PM on April 29

Also, a lot of dried fruits have added ingredients that decrease the nutrients/calorie ratio. Cranberries and pineapples are usually sugary, and banana chips have sugar plus the cocunut oil that makes them so greasily delicious.
posted by little e at 7:31 PM on April 29

Is this true for all dried fruit?

No. It's only true for smallish fruits. Dried pineapples, mangoes, and other large fruits are obviously sliced first.

I believe most dried tomatoes are quartered tomatoes. At least, that's the way I make them and they end up about the same size as store boughts.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:45 PM on April 29

Pears and peaches are usually halved. I'm not sure about apricots.

Still it's dangerously easy to eat like 6 pears in a sitting. Probably drinking water too is the best way to get your stomach to notice what you're doing.
posted by aubilenon at 7:57 PM on April 29

It's possible to re-hydrate a raisin in a bowl of water. It won't completely plump up, but you can get a fair approximation of the original grape's size from doing it.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:31 PM on April 29

The problem with dried fruit, according to hard core dieters, is that it doesn't fill you up as much as the normally hydrated variety. So, you need to consume more calories to satiate your hunger. Yet another reason so many are fat.
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 10:41 PM on April 29

Backpackers are mainly really interested in drying fruit and soups and stuff is because water=weight. They can take the water out, pack it around, rehydrate if necessary, or eat dehydrated. A piece of fruit is still the same after its been dried, it just doesn't have as much water content in it (from say 80% water to 10% water). These compact forms of energy are great for backpackers because they doesn't go bad and it doesn't have the weight or fragility of fresh fruit.
posted by ijoyner at 11:41 PM on April 29

Also, if this is the case, why do things like dried apricots, papaya, and so on have relatively little to offer in terms of fibre and other nutrition? (at least according to the info on the package)

Dried fruit does have a lot of fiber, as long as the original fruit had a lot of fiber. Dried apricots have 7.8g fiber per 100g and prunes have 7.2g per 100g. (The daily recommended value is 25g.)
posted by smackfu at 7:01 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]