Dried apricots are one of my favourite dried fruits. I like to eat them straight from the bag, sprinkle them on my muesli or porridge and bake with them. They work particularly well in the fruity flapjack recipe below. But have you ever wondered why organic dried apricots you find in health food shops are brown instead of orange?
If you look closely at the label on your non-organic apricots you will find SO2 listed as an ingredient . This refers to sulphur dioxide which is used to help the fruit retain it's colour. This process is banned in organic production. The lack of this additive is what gives organic dried apricots it's brown colour and caramel taste. Give them a try they are yummy!
Monday, 20 August 2007
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I can’t resist good organig dried apricots either. I thought I would share a little of I learned about organic dried fruit. The reason sulphur is used to dry fruit is because it prevents oxidation. When Oxygen molecules bond to free particles of the fruit and take away nutrients and beta-carotene. This is why the fruit turns brown. However we are all more interested in organic grown fruit because it is grown in a sustainable manner that is not harmful to the environment or people. Usually organic fruit is dehydrated because the quicker fruit is dried, the less time it has to oxidize and the healthier it will be. When buying organic dried fruit look for the fruit with the most color because it is the fruit that retained the most nutrients and is going to be much more beneficial to your body. My uncle has a dried fruit company in central California (Bella Viva Orchards) and he taught me how to dry my own fruit on cookie sheets at home without burning sulphur to preserve it. Here is a link to his Organic Dried Fruit. The only fruit here that he didn’t grow is the organic mango. He imports the organic dried mango but it is still amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Michael, that's really interesting.
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