Freeze-Dried Fruit at 99 Cents Only Stores

I’ve seen dried fruit but not freeze-dried fruit. Look at the packaging. Dried fruit has zero vitamin C.

Sorry, to clarify, the package says “all natural freeze-dried apple (etc.) crisps.”  There is also a short description of the freeze-drying process.  One package of apple has 6 percent DV of viamin C; strawberry-banana has 20 percent.

Dried fruit has zero vitamin C.

Curious statement. Can you supply a believable (medical or scientific, not woman’s fashion mag) reference for this claim?

Cheers

Roger,

I’ll let others debate the credibility of the New York Times, but there does appear to be truth to the claim that dried fruit has very little vitamin C compared to fresh fruit:

The heat used in drying fruit also decreases the amount of some of the heat-sensitive nutrients, like vitamin C.

Fresh apricots have…15.5 milligrams of vitamin C versus 0.8 milligrams [for dried apricots].

I think it depends on the fruit:

http://www.icef11.org/content/papers/aft/AFT1148.pdf

Ah so! Thank you. I am educated yet again.

OK, I was thinking of freeze-dried foods, but obviously heat-dried foods will lose some heat-sensitive vitamins in comparison. But I still like dried apricots :-)

Does it matter for a trip of a week? Probably not. But if you were provisioning an Antarctic base, you would need to consider it carefully. Worth remembering.

Cheers

Hi Paul,

the government never lies.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/food-processing-and-nutrition

Freezing (freeze dried)
The nutrient value of a food is retained when it is frozen. Any nutrient losses are due to the processing prior to freezing and the cooking once the frozen food is thawed.

Dehydrating (dried)
Drying out foods such as fruits can reduce the amount of vitamin C they retain, but it can also concentrate other nutrients, particularly fibre in plant foods. Dehydrating food also makes food products more energy dense, which may contribute to weight gain. If a dehydrated food is reconstituted and cooked with water, further nutrients are leached out of the food and lost in the cooking water.