Would I come to regret intentionally dehydrating fruit in my fridge?
October 5, 2022 9:12 PM Subscribe
Freeze dried fruit. Sun-dried fruit exists. Fruit preserves exist. sun-dried persimmons exist [NYT]. If a piece of fruit has dried out in my fridge, what are my food-safety considerations? It can't be any less safe than sun-dried, right? Just might not taste very good?
For the record, I typically lean far to the "eh, I'd eat it" end of the Can I Eat This spectrum. My present test fruit is a peach, and now that I've torn it open I see the flesh has darkened significantly from when it was fresh. I'm interested in hearing about fruits that might be better or worse suited to this method. Obviously it doesn't work for avocados, don't think it would work for bananas. But maybe it works for apples if you slice them? I have seen carrots get dry and shriveled but then plump up again when soaked in water.
I have googled this to no avail other than this cold-dried beef jerky.
For the record, I typically lean far to the "eh, I'd eat it" end of the Can I Eat This spectrum. My present test fruit is a peach, and now that I've torn it open I see the flesh has darkened significantly from when it was fresh. I'm interested in hearing about fruits that might be better or worse suited to this method. Obviously it doesn't work for avocados, don't think it would work for bananas. But maybe it works for apples if you slice them? I have seen carrots get dry and shriveled but then plump up again when soaked in water.
I have googled this to no avail other than this cold-dried beef jerky.
I would thinknit will rot and get moldy BEFORE it dries. You will have dehydrated rotten fruit.
Fruit dehydrated in the sun has good air circulation around it and warmth which is what makes tye fruit dehydrate (the warmth evaporates the water). In a cold fridge by the time the water evaporates it will have bred mold and rot.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:24 AM on October 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Fruit dehydrated in the sun has good air circulation around it and warmth which is what makes tye fruit dehydrate (the warmth evaporates the water). In a cold fridge by the time the water evaporates it will have bred mold and rot.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:24 AM on October 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Some fridges control humidity better than others. If you take, even whole, smaller mushrooms and place them in a brown paper bag, they will eventually completely dry up, and then, poof, you have dehydrated mushrooms (which, even criminis and button mushrooms can bulk up a lackluster stock in a pinch). I don't know why, but the structure of mushrooms, even with their high moisture content, allow them to dry quickly enough not to get gross, in most fridges if they're in a porous container, and the fridges keeps humidity at a minimum.
Before I had a proper food dehydrator, I would buy bulk silica desiccant, and use a flat strainer (not this one, but like this one), and place desiccant at the bottom of a large bowl, then add the fruit I wanted to dehydrate on the strainer, in a bowl that was large enough to nestle everything in without touching. Tight fitting lid (very tight; some bowl and lid combos I had needed a layer of plastic cling film to get a good seal), and then pop it in the fridge. Doing really high moisture things like stone-fruits, you would need to swap the desiccant out once or twice, and recharge it by baking it.
This produces only extremely small quantities, and is a giant pain in the ass. Anything more than just for garnishes or small snacks it is really inefficient. Items stored in a fridge DO pick up other flavors (my first round of plums to prunes like this ended up tasting reminiscent of kimchi because a jar was not closed well, and the smell not noticeable until well after the project was completed). It does work however. If this is your jam, dehydrators are really common floating around used.
posted by furnace.heart at 6:55 AM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Before I had a proper food dehydrator, I would buy bulk silica desiccant, and use a flat strainer (not this one, but like this one), and place desiccant at the bottom of a large bowl, then add the fruit I wanted to dehydrate on the strainer, in a bowl that was large enough to nestle everything in without touching. Tight fitting lid (very tight; some bowl and lid combos I had needed a layer of plastic cling film to get a good seal), and then pop it in the fridge. Doing really high moisture things like stone-fruits, you would need to swap the desiccant out once or twice, and recharge it by baking it.
This produces only extremely small quantities, and is a giant pain in the ass. Anything more than just for garnishes or small snacks it is really inefficient. Items stored in a fridge DO pick up other flavors (my first round of plums to prunes like this ended up tasting reminiscent of kimchi because a jar was not closed well, and the smell not noticeable until well after the project was completed). It does work however. If this is your jam, dehydrators are really common floating around used.
posted by furnace.heart at 6:55 AM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
> Freeze drying is an industrial process that happens rapidly. You cannot do that in a Home freezer at minus 18 Celsius.
Looks like you can do it, but you need vaccuum and a desiccant.
https://www.instructables.com/Freeze-Dry-At-Home/
Just leaving it in the fridge, it's going to have microbe attacking it faster than it's drying out.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:00 AM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Looks like you can do it, but you need vaccuum and a desiccant.
https://www.instructables.com/Freeze-Dry-At-Home/
Just leaving it in the fridge, it's going to have microbe attacking it faster than it's drying out.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:00 AM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
The thing when drying food is to get it done as fast as possible, so that moisture is reduced to below the level that will support bacteria etc before they have a chance to start the decomposition process.
While something dried out in cool conditions might be OK, it's pretty much the opposite of the ideal situation above.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 6:29 PM on October 9, 2022
While something dried out in cool conditions might be OK, it's pretty much the opposite of the ideal situation above.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 6:29 PM on October 9, 2022
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However, also because i am a slob, i have unintentionally dried fruit and veg in the fridge many times.
I do not eat it because my observation is, fruit left in the fridge until it is shrivelled and leathery does grow mold and developes some sort of slimey surface. It does not become dry, a fridge is too humid. It simply takes too long to dry out to leathery consistency, and the fridge micro climate is too humid.
Freeze drying is an industrial process that happens rapidly. You cannot do that in a Home freezer at minus 18 Celsius. Unless you live in a climate where it gets could enough outdoors, eg minus 40 Celsius.
What i do is dry thin apple slices spread on kitchen roll at room temperature. Takes a while but usually works if humidity in the room is not too high.
posted by 15L06 at 11:28 PM on October 5, 2022 [5 favorites]