OT: dried fruit without added sugar

[oliver1850]

I happened across Ocean Spray cranberries with 50% less sugar today and they looked promising until I read that they have sucralose, which I hate. Then looked at It's Delish, who specialize in organic dried fruits. They have no ingredients listed on their website but did reply to my email and said that the #2 ingredient of their dried cranberries is sugar. Any sources for dried fruit without added sweeteners?

[reuben]

A home dehydrator from Nesco (inexpensive, good), or Excalibur (more expensive, great). Dry your own.

[Hilltopperny]

Our local co-op has both sugared and unsweetened dried fruit. Aside from that only option is to do as mentioned above and dehydrate the fruit oneself.

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[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by reuben

A home dehydrator from Nesco (inexpensive, good), or Excalibur (more expensive, great). Dry your own.

THIS.

I have a NESCO dehydrator and it is great. It doesn't produce a dried fruit like what you buy in the store because store product must meet a longer shelf life so instead of banana "chips" you'll create "leathers". No matter. Freeze what you don't use immediately. Because it's dried it will still have a very long shelf life.

I once dehydrated some locally grown tomatoes. When done, they tasted so good I ate a dozen tomatoes' worth in one shot.

Funny story: I once got the idea to dehydrate a bunch of grapes once. When finished I looked at them and realized all I did was create raisins!

Dehydraters make insane tasting beef jerky, too!

[paredown]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

I happened across Ocean Spray cranberries with 50% less sugar today and they looked promising until I read that they have sucralose, which I hate. Then looked at It's Delish, who specialize in organic dried fruits. They have no ingredients listed on their website but did reply to my email and said that the #2 ingredient of their dried cranberries is sugar. Any sources for dried fruit without added sweeteners?

Dried cranberries seem to be the real outlier--since they are naturally full of pucker power--they get sweetened too much. Ocean Spray also adds a lot of sugar to their juice. In related news, I baked a cake recently--a cranberry cake made by caramelizing the cranberries in a cast iron pan, then batter added on top and finished in the oven. This was the first time I tried it, and even after reducing the sugar called for, I found it very sweet. I personally think Americans don't think it is desert unless it makes your fillings hurt.

COSTCO had some fabulous Mediterranean apricots that were a nice combo of sweet and tart (they seem to have switched to a new supplier--good but not the same).

[DfCas]

Isnt fruit mostly sugars naturally?, as a diabetic i was taught that.

[reuben]

Dehydrator bonus: I use mine to make yogurt. Nice even heat for hours, lid on the yogurt so it doesn't actually dry out. There are other details, but that's for another question/thread.

[p nut]

I believe Trader Joe’s has a good selection of unsweetened dried fruit.

[deluz]

Cranberries are probably worst as far as needing sugar since they are so tart.
Other options are apricots, figs, dates, apples, pineapple. Even if sugar is not added they can still be high in natural sugar. Sugar is sugar. The key is moderation.

[bigbill]

I was at a framebuilder's house in Flagstaff when he was cutting up plums for the dehydrator. I was eating plums out of the pile that was too ripe to put in the dehydrator because they were too "sqishy." I ate about 20, not the best idea.

I started the Noom diet last year, they cautioned against dried fruit, added sugar or not. Equal weights of grapes versus raisins is a huge calorie difference. My favorite breakfast is honey yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, and a 1/4 cup of granola for crunch.

[crankles]

We get Madjool Dates and unsweetened dried Mangos at Costco. They are both awesome. Be careful as they also sell sweetened dried Mangos.

[MXLeader]

Originally Posted by DfCas

Isnt fruit mostly sugars naturally?, as a diabetic i was taught that.

Yes, and it's primarily fructose. It seems like fructose has been getting a bad rap the last few years, primarily in the industrialization of high fructose corn syrup and highly processed foods where the fiber is stripped out (juices) and the sweetness is amplified (eg. Craisins) and a billion other foods.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by crankles

We get Madjool Dates and unsweetened dried Mangos at Costco. They are both awesome. Be careful as they also sell sweetened dried Mangos.

Dates are great food for any sort of endurance endeavor. Same with figs.

[zzy]

TJ's is unbeatable for dried fruits and nuts, with and without sugar. Their spicy candied walnuts are my current addiction.

[zennmotion]

I've completely stopped buying gels and bars since moving to Cali and discovering local farmer's market raisins and dried pluots (hybrid plum/apricot fruit). I never really cared for raisins before, but the local ones fresh out of the dryer are juicy sugarbombs.