There is a lot of information out there about dried fruit, but there is a lot of mixed information, depending on how you view this popular food news, whether you decide to use it or not
Dried fruits are easy to preserve and convenient to use
What is dried fruit?
Dried fruit is about fruits that their internal water has drained through natural drying or drying techniques. The product comes in the form of dry crispy, or candy but still rich in energy, nutrients.
For example, plums, figs, apricots, mangoes, longans, pineapples, blueberries, bananas, apples, cassava,… are dried. The advantage of dried fruits is easy to store, convenient to use, especially in the case of away from home, long trips without refrigerators to preserve.
The effect of dried fruits?
Dried fruits contain the same amount of nutrients as fresh fruits, but are concentrated in smaller volumes. By weight, dried fruit contains up to 3.5 times more fiber, vitamins and minerals than fresh fruit.
Especially in fiber, including polyphenols help improve blood circulation, digestive health, reduce oxidative damage and reduce many other diseases. Particularly, the vitamin C content decreases significantly after drying.
Dried fruits are easy to preserve and convenient to use
Effects on health
According to many studies, people who eat dried fruits are less likely to gain weight but consume more nutrients than the group who do not eat this fruit, especially the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components.
Contains many micronutrients, fiber and antioxidants
Fruits are very nutritious. A piece of dried fruits contains the same amount of nutrients as fresh fruit, but is concentrated in a much smaller package.
They are a good source of fiber, potassium, iron and many plant compounds from nature. Suitable for people with low glycemic index. This means that eating them should not cause major spikes in blood sugar
Dried fruits are a rich source of antioxidants, which contribute to reducing oxidative damage in the body
Good for pregnant women and about to give birth.
Regular eating during the last few weeks of pregnancy can help facilitate cervical dilation, as well as reduce the likelihood of preterm birth.
One study fed women daily during the last few weeks of pregnancy. Only 4% of women who eat every day are forced to give birth early, compared to 21% of those who do not
Fruits also show promising results in animal and test-tube studies. As a remedy for infertility in men, is becoming popular today
Notes on using dried fruit
- Avoid eating dried fruits with added sugar
- To make the dry fruit sweet and appealing, sometimes people add sugar or syrup before drying, so it is also called candy fruit.
- Sugar abuse is not healthy, increasing the risk of overweight, obesity, heart disease, even cancer.
- To avoid using sugar-rich dried fruits, read the nutrition facts and relevant information on the label carefully.
- In addition, dried fruit may be contaminated with fungi, aflatoxin and other toxic compounds when handled or stored. Therefore, from processing to storage, proper procedures need to be followed, especially in hot and humid places and without protective equipment.
- Store in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight or excess mold.
Differences between dried fruit and soft dried fruit
Differences between dried fruit and soft dried fruit
Dried fruits are fruits where most of the water is removed, either naturally, or there are ways to make the water evaporate off the surface of the fruit through sun drying, pine through the use of a specialized dryer.
Nowadays, dried fruits are popular and widely used. Nearly half of the dried fruits sold are dried jackfruit, followed by bananas, sweet potatoes, mangoes, guavas and pineapples.
These are called “conventional” or “traditional” dried fruits: dried fruits in the sun or in hot air tunnel dryers.
Dried fruit actually takes away part of the moisture of fresh fruit, in the terminology they call it heated drying technology. When the product is put into the oven, the temperature is maintained at 50-70 degrees Celsius, about the same as the sun’s exposure temperature. After that, the factory started cooling the dried fruit again. Therefore, when enjoying soft dried fruits often have plasticity, softness, toughness and no brittleness like dried fruits.