Nutritious Freeze-Dried Fruits: A Powerhouse of Vitamins

Thanks to modern freeze-drying techniques, when we say today’s healthy eating habits, they are those triptics of healthiness: it is absolutely impossible for one not to use these freeze-dried fruits. Due to which, in addition to remaining natural preservative, the freeze-drying process retains foods in their original state and preserves the vitamins and other useful substances as much and for as long as possible, so that you can enjoy them during the periods of absence from home – and using only the healthiest means!

The Process and Its Benefits

The process, freeze-drying (in case you believed the phrase ‘lyophilisation’ is a modish word for the Terminator), parallels that of solar drying. In this case, you freeze the fruit rapidly and reduce the pressure of the surrounding air to let the frozen water in the fruit be converted directly from the solid, frozen state (when it is ice) to the gaseous state (when it is vapour). Because the fruit itself remains in its cellular state and because the water has not been converted to liquid before it is removed, the fruit retains the micro-nutrients of the original fruit and its flavours, without chemical changes in the food, or the addition of preserves. Food that is freeze-dried creates a light, fluffy snack that is extremely nutritious and delicious.

The other great advantage of fruits in freeze-dried form is retention of nutrients. While most types of drying result in major losses in the nutrients of foods, it appears that most of the valuable vitamins and minerals are retained in the freeze-dried fruit, making it a better source of essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre.

A Powerhouse of Vitamins

Perhaps the most vitamin-rich foods are the freeze-dried fruits. A typical serving of freeze-dried strawberries contains nearly all the vitamin C of fresh strawberries and provides nearly half your daily recommended allowance of this vitamin. Vitamin C is essential for healthy growth and repair of all tissues, and helps to regulate all functions of our immune system.

Similarly, freeze-dried blueberries are rich in anthocyanins – antioxidants that protect the heart, improve brain function and lower blood pressure – and the freeze-drying process preserves those antioxidants so you can take a tasty healthy snack with you no matter what your diet.

Fiber and Beyond

They are also, at least in the case of most fruits, sufficiently high in fibre to be a reasonable everyday food on this score: as we all know, eating a diet that contains good fibre is important for keeping our bowels working properly. A key reason for the loss of fibres from fresh food during preservation is heating. Hence, one benefit of the food-drying process of freeze-drying over others is retention of a high proportion of the original food’s fibres, which regulate bowels, and reduce blood fat and sugar levels.

Incorporating Freeze-Dried Fruits into Your Diet

With such a great number of options to use freeze-dried fruits, they can be eaten as a stand alone snack (ie, a healthy crunchie treat) or thrown in a smoothie to add nutrition, infuse a cereal or yoghurt, or added to bakes (muffins, cakes or cookies).

The Eco-Friendly Choice

Besides the health benefits, freeze-dried fruits are eco-friendly. Since logistic weight (and thereby the carbon emission) of freeze-dried fruits is much lower than that of fresh and even canned fruits, the light logistic weight is good for our earth as well. Considering how large the waste of food can be, we nature-lovers should admit that 'once you’ve peeled it, you’ve wasted it' is good for our good planet as well.