OT: dried fruit without added sugar

[crankles]

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

[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.

[Deanhorsfall]

I purchased a Nesco food dehydrator and three additional racks three years ago and it paid for itself very quickly. I have friends who have apple and plum trees. Some years the trees produce way too much fruit. One year I processed about one hundred and fifty pounds of apples. I would recommend giving this a try.

[rrudoff]

I just buy unsulfured and unsweetened dried apple slices from Trader Joes or the health food store, I have used them for snacks during rides for years and years. Plenty sweet and not messy

[dustyrider]

A dehydrator is nice. There is the labor that goes into it, but the results can balance that out. Especially since you can dehydrate almost anything and rehydrate it later. I’ve used them for instant meals/soups for camping, jerky, fruit roll ups, or dried fruit. When I lived near a community farm, the dried vegetables became some of my favorite. You can added them to sauces, stews, anything that will somewhat rehydrate them during the cooking process.

Most all of the dried fruits I encounter in the stores have things in them other than the fruit itself and the ones that are just fruit are spendy. Dates and Figs are insane when it comes to energy uptake for me, raisins seem to be a mellower spike and things like banana and apple I hardly notice. Dried fruit on the bike is about the only real food I can stomach if it’s hot and I’m working hard.

[gdw]

Dehydrators are the way to go. If you don't want to buy one you can use your oven or easily make one. Youtube and the backpacking forums have numerous instructions on how to construct and use it. An added bonus is that they can be used to make inexpensive treats if you have a dog.

[p nut]

I see that Nesco comes in circular or square shape. Any advantages one way or the other?

[Deanhorsfall]

I think the square version might fit in a standard size sink. It would make cleaning them easier. That is the problem with the round trays. They do not fit in a sink very well. ( I have the round Nesco version)

Originally Posted by p nut

I see that Nesco comes in circular or square shape. Any advantages one way or the other?

[Louis]

Random comments:

I don't know what the duty cycle of a typical dehydrator is, but when I first investigated them and found that quite a few were in the 800-1000 watt range I lost interest. I figured I'd let someone else do it more efficiently at scale and buy them from Trader Joes. Less clean--up too.

On the other hand, the main attraction for me was to able to eat stuff with a minimum of additives. So now I'm just careful and make sure I read the labels before buying.

[Peter P.]

Update on dehydrators:

I remembered this thread this weekend when I bought a pineapple then realized I might not be able to finish it before it spoiled.

Solution-dehydrate it!

Amazing how an entire pineapple can be reduced to such a tiny volume. While two trays were used to start, the finished product could fit on one tray.
With the number of trays I have, I could have dehydrated 4 pineapples.

[caneye]

Originally Posted by gdw

Dehydrators are the way to go. If you don't want to buy one you can use your oven or easily make one. Youtube and the backpacking forums have numerous instructions on how to construct and use it. An added bonus is that they can be used to make inexpensive treats if you have a dog.

This!
Dehydrate fruits for our consumption (apples, kiwi fruits) and meat for the dogs to be given as treats, instead of reprocessed jerky.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by zzy

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

Yes x1000. Been eating TJs dried fruits and especially their nuts on a daily basis. They have really good "Fancy mixed nuts" and walnuts.

[RFC]

My dehydrator gets a lot of use. Mostly jerky and peppers from my garden. I will try fruit. BTW, I am fond of the Costco dried apricots. I'll have to see if they have added surgar.

IMG_6556 by Robert Copple, on Flickr

IMG_7134 by Robert Copple, on Flickr

IMG_6654 by Robert Copple, on Flickr