Have You Had Your Dried Fruit Today?

Raisins and other dried fruits provide a nutritious, filling snack and make for a great addition to recipes. Dried fruits are especially appealing as they count towards our fruit serving for the day and provide concentrated amounts of fiber. Raisins, apricots, and dates are also good sources of iron. For dried fruits, one nutrient which would be reduced during the drying process is Vit. C.

It must however be remembered that dried fruits also contain concentrated amounts of calories for the same quantity as their fresh fruit counterparts. For example 1 cup of grapes vs. 1 packed cup of raisins has about 100 calories and about 500 calories respectively. Therefore, one must be mindful of this and exercise portion control when consuming raisins or other dried fruits as a snack or part of a meal.

Some dried fruits are treated with sulphur dioxide to preserve the color, but I personally prefer those without such a preservative. Sulfur is not really necessary and it makes the fruits less wholesome. Newman's Own Organics Dried fruit is a line containing no sulfites and you can find other varieties of organic dried fruits in the Natural/Gourmet Food store which also are free of sulfites. Trader Joe's also carry some unsulfured dried fruit varieties.

Dried fruits are so versatile that it really makes sense to find ways to incorporate them into daily meals as much as possible. Enjoy this Free Collection of Cookbooks from Sun Maid Raisins dating from the vintage versions from the earliest years of the company to the ones from the most recent years. For some of these recipes you could mix up the raisins with other types of dried fruits or replace them all together with different dried fruits.




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