Plant Based Ingredients

Dry Fruits and Vegetables

Food dehydration is the oldest form of food preservation. Early on people dried their food in the sun or on stove tops. Today we have the food dehydrators.Food dehydration is safe because water is removed from the food. Because water is removed from the food, mold and bacteria cannot grow on it; thus it will not spoil. There is, however, a loss of vitamin A and C is dried foods due to heat and air. It usually takes vegetables 6-16 hours to dry, and fruit 12-48 hours.

Dehydrated Food Products Today

Experienced users and health experts know that dry fruits and dehydrated vegetables have a special value. Besides a prolonged shelf life, these products, when processed correctly, possess all the nutrition & flavour that exist in the fresh ones. In fact, in correctly dehydrated fruits and vegetables the nutrition and flavour is enhanced, the captive values remaining for long time.

Dehydration

Foods grown for dehydration are different from those grown for the fresh foods market: they must have high solids content with good mineral content and flavour. In modern food driers water is removed to a maximum moisture content of 4% to 5%, followed by milling or separating to specific particle sizes. Prior to drying the source material is cleaned and peeled, sometimes juiced. Cleaned and sliced pieces pass through various phases such as temperature, air flow and retention stages. Under temperature controlled conditions to minimize loss of enzymes, most of the moisture is removed without damaging the volatile flavour compounds.