What are the preservatives in dried fruit?

What are the preservatives in dried fruit? What compounds are used to preserve dried fruit? Stay with us. As you know, drying is one of the available methods to increase the shelf life of some foods, especially fruits and vegetables. pistachio shell In this method, the water activity of food is reduced and microbial spoilage is prevented.

A look at the history of dried fruit

Fruit drying has a long history in countries such as Iran, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey. The history of dry fruits production goes back to 1700 years before Christ. At that time, the people of the Mediterranean and the Middle East used to dry summer fruits for their winter food.

Dates, grapes, apricots, figs, apples, peaches and even pears were among the fruits that the ancients knowingly or unknowingly increased their shelf life by drying them. These days, dried fruit nuts have many fans all over the world; From Greece and Italy to America and Russia. Of course, we Iranians are also one of the biggest lovers of dried fruits.

Fruit drying methods

Drying is done using 2 methods of sunlight and industrial dryers. Among the disadvantages of drying with sunlight, we can mention the presence of relative pollution caused by insects, wind and rain, some chemical and microbial pollution in the environment and even soil. However, despite the use of free energy from the sun, things like the long process time, the need for a large space and the presence of suitable weather for drying are other disadvantages of this method.

Sunlight is usually used to dry fruits such as dates, grapes and figs. Since a large amount of fruit juice is lost during the drying process, the amount of dry matter in the final product (such as sugars) increases. This increase in dry ingredients can cause more calories in dried products, and it is possible that their continuous and excessive consumption may cause problems such as overweight for people.

In traditional and home methods, browning reactions are more than industrial methods because usually the process of drying fruits at home is longer and additives that prevent browning reactions are not used.

Preservatives for dried fruit

There are various methods to preserve the color of dried fruits in the industry, the most common of which is the contact of effective compounds (sulphide derivatives) with food. Of course, higher speed, more efficiency and the use of methods such as immersing the product in sugar solutions also produce a product with a more suitable texture and color.

The operation of preserving the color, flavor and taste (pretreatment) of the fruit

In addition to preventing darkening during drying and storage, the use of pretreatment also increases the drying speed of fruits and vegetables. Many fruits, such as apples, peaches, and pears, darken in color when they are cut or exposed to air, and this darkening continues after drying and during storage.

Smoking fruits with sulfur is a common method to prevent darkening of the product, which is not recommended due to the problems that using this method causes for breathing. For this reason, other methods should be used instead of fumigation with sulfur.