Dried Fruits

There are Many Kinds of Dried Fruits

Dried fruits are a healthy snack provided it's enjoyed in moderation. However, it's no doubt better than most other snack foods that kids eat.

When water is removed from fruit, the tissue that's left is much smaller, and the fructose, the sugar is more concentrated. Therefore, dried fruits have a relatively high glycemic index.

Parents like their kids to eat such snacks because they do still contain a fair amount of antioxidants, phytochemicals, minerals and fiber. Certainly more than most candy bars, snack cakes or doughnuts.

Because the fructose is so compressed, fruit when it's had its moisture removed tastes much sweeter than fruit in its natural, ripe moisturized form. Plus, then you have to eat the skin, encounter seeds or a texture that varies from yummy to mushie.

Somehow, blemishes or sour portions of the fruit are eliminated in its dried state.

Dried Fruits Come in Many Forms

Some fruits are squishy, such as grapes when they're dried into raisins and plums when dried into prunes.

In Asia, people slice bananas into narrow chips like big buttons, and they are crispy rather than chewy. This is a popular snack food sold in small packages, and I've seen it for sale in American supermarkets as well.

It's also common there to find for sale in convenience stores, strips of dried mango and papayas. These require packaging with thicker plastic, perhaps to keep out moisture. The dried mango and papaya strips are much like strips of dried beef, though weaker, easier to tear apart with your teeth. And, of course, much much sweeter.

Some fruits I've never seen dried, such as watermelon, cherries, blueberries and strawberries.

Bits and pieces of these fruits find their way into granola and into mixtures of nuts. It adds to the carbohydrate total of granola, but not significantly as the grains in granola are already very high in the glycemic load. At least they add a few antioxidants.

In nut mixes, they had a healthy dose of carbohydrates to the nuts, which are mostly protein and fat.

You can buy appliances to allow you to dry your own fruit, including apples, pears, apricots and pineapples. Most of them are powered by electricity, using fans to blow hot air across the food. Some work solely through sunlight.

Altogether, dried fruits are a good way of preserving food for future needs and of encouraging your kids to eat better.

Next: Dried Fruits -- raisins, and so on.