Dehydrated Fruit – Single Ingredient Fruit Snacks

Your new favorite fruit snack.

Fun fact about me…I don’t like fruit. That may leave you wondering why I’m writing about something I don’t even eat. Well, in my pursuit of healthy snacks for my toddler I discovered it was nearly impossible to find fruit snacks of any kind that didn’t have added sugar, preservatives, or other strange additives…so I decided to try making my own.

On a mission to avoid the scary sounding additives, I ordered up a dehydrator with some silicone sheets and started to experiment. What I quickly learned was that it took almost zero effort to make sweet, healthy snacks for my son that had only 1 ingredient, fruit.

Here are some of the most common additives I was seeing listed on dried fruit packaging:

Sulphites: When these pass through our digestive system, a chemical reaction occurs creating sulphur dioxide. This can have a significant impact on our respiritory system, especially in people who already have other respiritory conditions. Sulphites are not always listed as ‘sulphites’ in the ingredient list. Here are a few other names they go by; Potassium metabisulfite, Potassium bisulfite, Sodium bisulfite, Sodium metabisulfite, Sodium sulfite.
Side note: Sulphur dioxide is created from burning coal or oil.

Refined sugars: Fruits can contain high amounts of sugar on their own. Luckily, they also contain fibre and other nutrients that allow our bodies to digest them without major spikes in blood sugar or other health consequences. The addition of highly processed sugars (sometimes listed as glucose, fructose, juice concentrates, and various syrups) can lead to blood sugar spikes followed by crashes as well as increase in your risk of other common diseases and conditions.

Refined oils: Oils are added to prevent pieces from drying out or sticking together and to preserve freshness. Most commercial dried fruits use industrially refined vegetable oils which are highly processsed, contain trans fats and can have negative effects on cholesterol levels.

So how exactly do you make these healthy treats and avoid the scary extras? Very easily!

I use this Cosori Dehydrator with these silicone mesh mats. The combinations makes the entire process, from set up to clean up, a breeze.

Fresh or frozen fruit will work, I usually choose frozen because of the convenience and availability. Simply dump the fruit onto the dehydrator tray with silicone sheet (this prevents it from sticking to your tray) and spread out so it’s in a single layer. Pop it in the dehydrator at 145F for 12-18 hours (this can be less depending on your preferred texture, type of fruit, and size of pieces). That’s it. The time can vary quite a bit depending on the size of the pieces, type of fruit, temperature in your house, humidity, etc. You may want to put a drip tray at the bottom of your dehydrator, especially when using frozen fruit.

The best part is, it’s pretty hard to mess up. If your fruit isn’t as dry as you’d like it, just let it dehydrate longer. If the pieces get a little hard or crunchy, leave them in a bowl on your counter where they can absorb some moisture from the air. They will quickly return to the chewy texture you’re looking for. When you’ve reached your desired texture, store in a glass jar with tight fitting lid. In addition to a simple snack, dried fruits make a great add ins for yogurt, oatmeal and baking.

Our favorites are strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, watermelon, and apples.

No dehydrator? No problem! Most air fryers have a dehydration setting. Follow the user manual for your air fryer to set it to dehydrate and enjoy the same tasty treats we have been for years.

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