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Freeze Dried Fruit: What’s the Story?
Last winter, when there was zero hope of fresh, local fruit at the farmer’s market, I picked up some packs of freeze-dried fruit at Trader Joe’s. My daughter adores regular strawberries, blueberries and mango so I hoped she’d dig my astronaut food-style variations. Boy, did she ever! The problem is that I now can’t reverse what I started. She doesn’t want regular mango, she only wants freeze-dried! She likes her favorite strawberries, but when they are out of season she heads right for the little red chips on our pantry shelves. I was a little worried about this – was she missing out on essential nutrients by not eating fresh fruit all the time? – so I did a little research.
First, I was pleased to discover that the process of freeze-drying actually leaves the essential vitamins and antioxidants in the fruit untouched. Freeze-drying removes the water, but not the nutritional value. I was especially excited to learn that no new sugars are added to the fruits as they are dried. So many dried fruits and fruit chips are cooked in fatty oil or doused in sugar, taking a perfectly healthy piece of fruit and making it almost candy-like. Now that we are a freeze-dried fruit friendly kitchen (say that three times fast!) we’ve been adding it to all sorts of things. My daughter loves it tossed in her cereal, scattered on top of pancakes and put in her box for school snack. The other day we even scattered crunchy freeze-dried blueberries over her favorite lemon italian ice. This winter I can guarantee I’ll be buying my daughter many more bags of freeze-dried fruit. As far as I’m concerned, she can have as much as she wants.
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[...] 1) Freeze Dried Fruit: What’s the Story? [...]
Babble Weekly Round-Up | The Naptime Chef commented on Sep 24 10 at 11:26 pmAdd your take:
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