Dehydrated mixed fruit with almonds

Dehydrated mixed fruit with almonds

Are you interested in a healthy snack? Well, I am spending the day dehydrating mixed fruit to make a highly healthy and snack-able treat. Once the fruit is fully dehydrated, I will mix it with almonds, then store the fruit mix in vacuum-sealed mason jars. 

I enjoy having a healthier snacking option throughout the day. Even though I enjoy baking and making homemade candy, I crave the wholesome, sweet goodness of mixed fruit with a crunch of almonds, pecans, or walnuts.

Mixed dehydrated fruit snack ingredients:

• 3 peaches, sliced

• 8 plums, sliced

• 3 tangerines, peeled and segmented

• 3 apples, cored and sliced

• ½ cup of lemon juice, for soaking the fruit in (You can use any type of acidic fruit juice for this.)

• 1 cup of almonds, walnuts, pecans, or any other type of nut that you prefer

Instructions:

First, wash and prepare all the fruits. I like leaving the peelings on the peaches, plums, and apples, but they can also be peeled if that's what you prefer. 

Slice the peaches, plums, and apples. (I prefer to slice my peaches and plums a bit thicker than the apple slices. However, the extra thickness will make the dehydrating time somewhat longer.) Peel the tangerines, then pull them apart in segments.

Next, pour the lemon juice, or whichever type of citrus juice you prefer, into a bowl and toss your prepared fruit into the juice. Allow the fruit to soak in the juice for a few minutes.

Place the fruit on your dehydrating trays, spacing each sliced piece at least a half inch apart. You can use silicone trays and mats to make cleaning your dehydrator easier.

Set your dehydrator temperature to 135 degrees F and place the trays of fruit inside. 

Dehydrating times will vary; some of the fruit will be finished dehydrating by around six hours, while other pieces will need to dehydrate longer. However, this mixed fruit shouldn't take much longer than fifteen hours to dehydrate. 

Once your mixed fruit is fully dehydrated, transfer it to a bowl, add in the nuts. Allowing the dried fruit mix to cool helps prevent mold from forming on it. Once your fruit mix has cooled, transfer it to airtight jars, or Ziploc bags.

Enjoy snacking on your sweet, but wholesomely healthy, dehydrated fruit mix. Don't forget every now and again to shake your jars or bags of dehydrated fruit to keep the pieces from sticking together.

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© 2025 Olden Oasis

oldenoasis.blogspot.com

Dehydrated citrus fruit

Dehydrated citrus fruit

Today, I will be working on slicing various kinds of citrus fruit to dehydrate. You can use just one type of citrus fruit, such as all oranges, or you can dehydrate multiple oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit, just as I'm doing today. The process is the same for each of these citrus fruit choices. After the fruit is dehydrated, it can be used to flavor iced tea, hot tea, tropical punch, lemonade, etc., and the dehydrated fruit can be eaten as a yummy, healthy snack. The best part is that the only ingredient you'll need is citrus fruit.

Ingredients:

• Citrus fruit: the amount depends on your needs (I am using oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit).

Dehydrating citrus fruit

First, you'll need to wash the fruit well under running water. Then thinly slice your oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit with a sharp knife, or you can use a mandoline.

Place the citrus slices on the dehydrator trays and leave space between each slice of fruit so that the air can circulate well between each piece of fruit.

Set the dehydrator to 135 to 140 degrees. Begin checking the citrus slices after 2 to 3 hours. It can take as long as 10 to 12 hours before your fruit is fully dehydrated. Some pieces may get done before others. It all depends on the thickness of your sliced fruit. The thinner the fruit is sliced, the less time it will need to be dehydrated.

Once the fruit is dehydrated, take it off the trays and allow each piece to completely cool. Then store the fruit in jars with lids, airtight containers, or Ziploc bags. Use the fruit as needed, and enjoy!

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© 2025 Olden Oasis

oldenoasis.blogspot.com

Dehydrating mangos

For a healthier snack, why not dehydrate some fresh mangos? Yesterday I water-bath canned, dehydrated, and froze multitudes of mangos. Today I still have the dehydrator going full swing. 

Dehydrating mangos is extremely simple to do. First, you'll need to peel and slice the flesh of the fruit off of the seed. I prefer trying to slice each mango in halves to the best of my ability, because once the mangos are dehydrated they shrink down a good bit.

When dehydrating food of any kind, the dehydrating process dries out all the juices from whatever it is you're preserving.

For pre-treating the fruit, I use lemon juice to soak the mangos in. You will need to use the juice of one lemon for every four mangos that you slice. A lemon produces about ¼ cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice. That equals about four tablespoons per lemon. Bottled lemon juice can also be used.

You'll want to pretreat the mangos, so that they'll have a good texture when they're finished dehydrating. Pre-treating also prevents bad bacteria from forming while the mangos are dehydrating, plus it keeps the fruit from turning an ugly brown color.

So, after you have peeled, sliced, seeded, and pre-treated the mangos, it's time to transfer the mango slices to the dehydrator trays. Leave spaces in between the slices and try not to overlap any. The secret to good dehydrating is to never over crowd the trays. 

In between dehydrating times, turn the fruit pieces over. This isn't something that you have to do, but I do it. It seems to even out the drying time.

Set the dehydrator temperature to 145 degrees F and dry for about fourteen hours or longer. Once the fruit is dehydrated to your liking, take the dehydrated mangos from the trays and transfer them into Ziploc bags, or some other type of airtight container. I placed mine in vacuum-sealed jars.

Do not worry about over dehydrating. You CAN NOT over-dry foods! The longer you allow your food to dehydrate, the drier it will become, and that means that it can be stored safely and for longer periods. 

To rehydrate the mangos, place the amount that you need in a bowl of hot water, steep for about fifteen minutes. Then drain the water off.

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© 2025 Olden Oasis

oldenoasis.blogspot.com