Deni 7100 manual Rehydrating, Drying Fruits, Preparation

7100 Instructions sgle pg 6/18/01 9:46 AM Page 8

REHYDRATING

Foods which have been dehydrated can be rehydrated in water. It can be done in one of three ways: (1) Fruits and vegetables may be soaked in cold water for 2-6 hours in the refrigerator; (2) they may be soaked in hot water or immersed in boiling water for 5-10 minutes until reaching desired consistency; or (3) they may be rehydrated while cooking. NO seasonings, salt or sugar should be added during this process. Generally, 1 cup of water should be used for each cup of dehydrated food. To stew dehydrated fruits, use 2 cups of water and simmer until the fruit is ten- der. After rehydration, foods can be cooked normally. To avoid bacteria, rehydrated foods should be eaten as soon as possible and uneaten portions refrigerated.

DRYING FRUITS

Preparation

■Wash fruits well and remove any bruised or overripe portions. Peel if desired. Large fruits may be halved. If pieces of fruit vary in size, they may be sliced 1/4” to 3/8” thick for more even drying. Smaller fruits such as grapes and cherries may be dried whole. Remove pits from fruits such as prunes, cherries, apricots, etc.

■Fruits that have been artificially waxed to prevent mois- ture loss should always be peeled. Peeling is optional with other fruits. Dried pear skins tend to be grainy and peach peels are a little fuzzy.

■Most fruits can be placed directly on the drying trays as they are prepared (such as pineapples, grapes, straw- berries, prunes, etc). However, apples, apricots, pears and peaches turn brown when the cut surfaces are exposed to the air due to oxidation and the continuous reaction of enzymes. These fruits may be pretreated to slow this browning and prevent loss of Vitamins A and C, but your attention is called to the cautions set forth below which are for your protection. If you are drying these fruits, and you intend to pretreat them, cut pieces can be prevented from browning while they are being prepared by keeping them in a holding solution until you have sufficient fruit to pretreat or by vacuum sealing

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