How to Make Dried Fruit for a Jello Cake Recipe
Whether you are trying to enrich your diet with more healthy fruit or whether you have children in mind and are thinking of their nutritional requirements, one great way to do so is to make dried fruit. This also ensures you are getting plenty of natural sugars and vitamins in your diet. Dried fruit is very versatile and can be eaten alone as a snack or used to decorate your favorite jello recipe in a unique way. The only problem is that dried fruit can be quite expensive but this is easily overcome when you discover how easy it is to make your own.
Another great idea is making dried fruit to top your jello cake recipe this is a fun way to make this decadent dessert a little healthier and a whole lot more interesting to look at. Adding dried fruit to the top and sides of your jello cake is really easy once you have the fruit and drying your own makes it a whole lot more fun and economical, get the kids to help with this one, they will love it. Take a look below for a few things to keep in mind before you start buying your apples and bananas, however!
The simplest way to dry your fruit is to use a food dehydrator. This allows you to control the drying speed, temperature, and everything else to dry your fruit to perfection. This machine is also able to dry your fruit without occupying valuable stove time, which is a bonus if you are busy with other things. Fruits such as pears and apples will dry at a stable 135F and come out looking and tasting wonderful, making excellent toppings for your favorite jello recipe.
If you would prefer to try it the old fashioned way, it is actually quite simple. First, decide on what fruits you are interested in drying. Apples and bananas are quite popular, and they are quite easy if you are looking for a simple first-time experience. The first thing you need to do to the fruit is cut it. While theoretically fruit of any shape or configuration can be dried, the drying process happens a great deal more swiftly and evenly if you cut the fruit into thin slices first.
Then, you will want to prepare the fruit. Many fruits will go brown or even blacken when they have been exposed too long to air, and to prevent this, you can briefly soak them in a variety of solutions that will help preserve their color. Fruit juice with a high level of citric acid, ascorbic acid, or even a honey and water can help your fruit looking great. This should also be done to any fruits that you put in a food dehydrator.
After you have prepared your fruit for drying, there are a few different ways in which you can dry it. You might want to thread your fruit on to a clean cotton thread and put it on a rack in the sun. Depending how juicy the fruit is this can take several days until the fruit is dried completely. You should put a cloth on the ground to catch any drips. If you do not have a lot of sun or you do not want to dry your fruit outdoors, you can use a conventional oven instead. If you want to do this, you should set down some wax paper on a cookie sheet. Arrange the fruit slices on the wax paper but do not let them touch one another. Heat the oven to 175F and leave it to cook. This will take a few hours because of the low temperature but do not turn the oven up unless you want burnt dried fruit!
When the fruit looks good, it is ready to be removed from the oven, cooled, and then used to decorate your jello recipe. Do some experimenting with different fruits and have some fun with fruit drying! Remember that dried fruit is healthy as well as delicious and making your own is just as economical as buying fresh fruit.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
