Basic Question About Dried Fruit

[SamIAm]

Just getting started. IÂ’ve been ogling the dried fruit at my local heath food store.

The packaging states no added sugar and organic. But how do I know if they meet the qualifications for “raw”?

That is, whether or not they were over-heated during the dehydration process?

IÂ’ve not found any dried fruit packaging that addresses this issue.

Thanks

[Olive]

Hi SamIAm!

Basically, you won't know for sure. It's somewhat likely that mass produced dried fruit is produced at higher temps, though I've heard different answers. Two ways to know for sure are to buy from raw food websites and to make your own. If you don't have a dehydrator, try your oven with just the pilot light on. This doesn't work for many things, but fruit seems to do pretty well.

[FEELIN'GOOD]

I agree with Olive- buy them from a raw food site. It's your safest bet on the issue!

I just saw that Doritos has a new chip called 'Natural' Can you believe they are trying to make you think Dortios all of a sudden are heathy because they use 'organic white corn' now? It makes me laugh because the info on the back of the bag is almost identical to the orginal version... YIKES!

[Analeah]

Wow that is so crazy about the doritos! Not too surprising though considering what else is labeled as "natural". About the dried fruits, I try to do my own when I can but I still buy organic dried figs at the store or market etc. If it is a small health food store I ask the owner how they are dried and the person I talked to says all of his fruits are sun dried. A larger health store, a regular employee would not know so the only way to know for sure is call if there is an information number or email or something.