Hi Jackie,

I’m not sure if you mean the regular dried variety which are chewy or the freeze dried type which are almost crisp. I recently ordered some freeze dried raspberries, strawberries, morello cherries and blackberries. I have only opened the rasberries so far and they are really good. I have been moulding bars from crushed dried rapberries and some amedei chuao couverture and the result has been amazing. Got the idea from the Amedei Toscano Red bar which is lovely but a tad pricey. The rasberries have a very intense tart flavour which I love.

The site I ordered from is [url]www.commercialfreezedry.co.uk/homeings.htm[/url] so you could give them a try.

Hope that helps, Christine

Hi,
Just wondering the shelf life of freeze dried fruit in chocolate bars. Have just received some raspberries and strawberries, the information says keep only two weeks after opening.
Was wondering what Chrissie and Jackies found.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gracie

I’ve found that they do tend to go “stale” because they absorb humidity very easily and lose that lovely crisp texture. Shelf life in itself re AW would still be long, but it’s more a textural change which is undesirable. Try to order small quantities and keep them in an airtight container.

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I’ve found that Zip-Loc bags work well for this. Fill the bag all the way, close the zipper almost completely, then suck out the remaining air (you can use a straw if you like). Then without stopping the suction, zip that last bit closed. Try to find the heaviest (i.e. thickest) bags that you can.

As for shelf life in a bar, if you’re worried about residual moisture absorption you can mould the bulk of the bar, then coat the whole thing with an even layer of chocolate, in basically the same manner you would for a filled bar.

Side question for those who might know: One of the things that’s always perplexed me is that the dried, but soft (i.e. not freeze-dried variety) blueberries are almost invariably both sweetened and slightly oiled (usually with sunflower oil). Is there some necessary reason for this? I would love to find unsweetened, unoiled dried blueberries.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com

Just guessing Alex, but I think the oil will be to prevent clumping or sticking together, but may also be cosmetic to give a sheen (they do the same with raisins and sultanas).
The sugar?…my guess is that the blueberries for drying are picked under ripe to facilitate processing (ripe blueberries are very juicy and thus fragile)so the sugar helps to give flavour to the under ripened fruit.
There seem to be loads more pure dried blueberry products available from the US, so if you don’t mind the postage, try http://www.berrystand.com or http://www.nutsonline.com

Sorry…just did a quick google for unsweetened berries and thought I’d pop them on. I haven’t used them personally. I don’t doubt that an hour or so trawling through UK search results should give something though.

Hi Michael, some really interesting stuff here…do you know if their fruit powders are pure or mixed with a dextrose carrier?
Are you doing mail order too or just cash and carry? I’d be very interested in getting catalogue from you if you’re able to supply by post.
Thanks.

alex,

i was in florida recently and found some dried blueberries in walmart. i remembered this post so i checked the ingredients. they had no added oil but i cant remember if they had any sugar added. i dont think that they did