How to Make Fruit Chips

Fruit chips are a great substitute for sweet snacks and are a reliable way to store a summer harvest full of vitamins for several months.

5-Minute Crafts is offering a sure and quick way to make such healthy snacks. The preparation time is 60 minutes and the cooking time is about one day.

Kitchen tools

To make fruit chips, you’ll need:

• A cutting board
• A knife
• A dryer for vegetables and fruits. If you don’t have a dryer, you can cook fruit chips in the oven. In this case, you’ll need a baking pan and baking paper or a wire rack.

As additional equipment, you can use knives for peeling fruits and vegetables and a special knife for quick cleaning and cutting apples.

Ingredients

Dry any fruits and berries that are available to you. We used:

• Apples
• Pears
• Bananas
• Kiwis
• Nectarines
• Plums
• Blueberries
• Oranges
• Lemons
• Limes

Overripe fruits that are too soft are great for making chips, but it isn’t necessary to use these exclusively. Remember that the ripeness of the fruit can affect the taste and cooking time. In addition to the products mentioned above, you can use apricots, melons, peaches, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and other fruits and berries.

Depending on what kind of fruit you use, 2.2 lb of fresh fruit will turn into 0.44 lb to 0.66 lb of chips.

The cooking process

1. Wash the fruits and berries thoroughly.

2. If necessary, peel them and remove any kernels.

3. Cut products into slices that are 0.12 inches to 0.2 inches thick.

4. Place them on trays for drying fruits and vegetables.

5. Dry for 18 to 20 hours at 140°F.

6. Use a baking tray or a wire rack covered with baking paper to cook fruit chips in the oven. Dry fruits with the oven door slightly open at a temperature of 140°F to 212°F for at least 8 hours. Turn the slices over from time to time.

Tips

• The cooking time depends on the fruit, its variety, ripeness, and the thickness of the slices. For example, whole berries, such as blueberries and citrus fruits, can take longer to dry — about 30 hours.

• Cooked chips can be easily removed from the rack of the dryer. You don’t have to dry them fully until they’re crispy. But if you want to achieve this result, increase the cooking time.

• It’s better to use seasonal fruits that contain the most vitamins and have the richest taste. The drying process preserves all the useful properties in them.

• You can store dried fruits for a long time, provided that the moisture level in the product doesn’t exceed 10%. To do this, keep the chips in fabric bags or in jars covered with gauze for some time to let them dry completely. Then store them in a dry, dark place at a temperature no higher than 59°F in a tightly closed container.

• You can freeze the dried fruits if you divide them into portions and put them in bags made of polyethylene, cloth, or paper.

• Change the position of the trays in the dryer during the cooking process. This way, fruits will dry more evenly.