1. Cover dried food with boiling water to reconstitute. Fruits generally rehydrate in about 10 minutes, and are ready to eat or use in recipes. Vegetables can take from 15 minutes to 3 hours to reconstitute, and may take a little more water than fruit during rehydration.
2. If rehydrating several foods together, make sure that sizes are uniform so that they will rehydrate at the same rate.
3. Soft water will reconstitute your fruits and vegetables more quickly than hard water.
4. Blanching vegetables prior to drying will shorten rehydration times.
5. Fruits to which sugar has been added will take longer to reconstitute (about 5 minutes).
Some Ideas on How to Use Those Dried Fruits: Not all dried fruit has to be used in Trail Mixes! Here are some other suggestions:
1. Reconstitute dried bananas and make banana bread.
2. Dried fruits such as apricots and peaches make terrific jams once reconstituted. I like to make small batches to be refrigerated and eaten immediately, but you can also make large batches and process them in a boiling water bath.
Instant Jam
3/4 dried fruit - use a single fruit or combination like bananas and strawberries
3/4 to 1 cup fruit juice or water, heated to boiling
1/4 cup honey or other sweetener, if needed
Cover the fruit with warmed juice and let sit overnight, if possible. Put this in a blender, and add your sweetener. Puree until spreadable. This is delicious.
3. Get creative, and make cobblers with your fruits. You can reconstitute them, then go ahead with your recipe. Here's my favorite dried fruit cobbler::
Take about 3 cups dried apples, pears, cherries, or peaches (either sliced or diced), and cover with 3 cups boiling water and 1/2 cup honey. These should be soft after about 30 minutes. Thicken by adding about a tablespoon of cornstarch to the mixture. Stir in nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves to taste, along with 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar, and pour into a buttered pan. Top with a crumb topping made of flour, oats, sugar, and butter, or cover with a white or yellow cake mix, topped with sliced butter or margarine. Bake at 350 degrees until the top is golden and the edges are bubbly. (About 30 minutes.)
4. Fruit Stew (a tasty winter breakfast or dessert)
1 cup dried fruit (I like to use a combination of fruits like apples, pears, peaches, raisins, cherries
1 cup boiling water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 to 1 teaspoon spices to taste. Try: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger.
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