Saturday, November 29, 2008

Making Dried Fruit for a Jello Cake Recipe Topping

By KC Kudra

Whether you are trying to add more fruit to your own diet or make interesting healthy meals with children in mind, making your own dried fruit can make a nice change from eating fresh fruit. You do not have to eat it alone either. You can add it to jello for an interesting touch. Dried fruit will make your jello cake recipe truly unique! Dried fruit is good for you and can help to ensure that you are getting all the natural sugars and vitamins necessary to benefit your overall health. Dried fruit can be expensive to buy so it is a good idea to dry your own fruit.

Another great idea is making dried fruit to top your jello cake recipe this is a fun way to make this decadent dessert a little healthier and a whole lot more interesting to look at. Adding dried fruit to the top and sides of your jello cake is really easy once you have the fruit and drying your own makes it a whole lot more fun and economical, get the kids to help with this one, they will love it. Take a look below for a few things to keep in mind before you start buying your apples and bananas, however!

If you can get a food dehydrator, this is the most simple, straightforward, and reliable way to dry your fruit. This device allows you control the temperature, the speed of drying, and practically everything involved with the process of drying out whatever fruit you choose to put into it. It can also dry fruit without taking up valuable stove time, which is a plus for the busy individual. In a food dehydrator, fruits like apples and pears will dry at a stable 135 degrees Fahrenheit and come out looking great.

If you want to dry your fruit using the old fashioned method instead, this is equally straightforward. First of all, choose some fruits to dry. Bananas and apples are popular choices and are good if this is the first time you are drying fruit. You need to cut the fruit. If you cut it into thin slices, it can be dried more quickly. In addition, thin slices look beautiful on a jello recipe.

Then, you will want to prepare the fruit. Many fruits will go brown or even blacken when they have been exposed too long to air, and to prevent this, you can briefly soak them in a variety of solutions that will help preserve their color. Fruit juice with a high level of citric acid, ascorbic acid, or even a honey and water can help your fruit looking great. This should also be done to any fruits that you put in a food dehydrator.

There are several ways to dry your fruit after you have prepared it. For instance, you can use a plastic needle to thread your fruit onto clean cotton thread and set up a rack in the sun. This method can take a few days, depending on juicy the fruit is. Remember to put down a cloth to catch any drips. You can also use a conventional oven. To use this method, put down some wax paper over a cookie sheet and lay the fruit slices on it, without letting them touch each other. Set the oven to about 175 degrees and let it simply cook for a while. This will take several hours but do not turn the oven up to speed the process!

When the fruit looks good, it is ready to be removed from the oven, cooled, and then used to decorate your jello recipe. Do some experimenting with different fruits and have some fun with fruit drying! Remember that dried fruit is healthy as well as delicious and making your own is just as economical as buying fresh fruit. - 16650

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