Drying Cherries

Cherries are a specialty fruit that grow on trees with beautiful spring blossoms.

They are divided into sweet and tart varieties.

The majority of sweet cherries are grown along the West Coast and sold for fresh consumption. Michigan is the unchallenged leader in tart cherry production. Tart cherries are primarily sold to fruit processors.

Types of Fruit Types of Fruit Apples Blueberries Grapefruit Grapes Huckleberries Lemons Oranges Pears Plums Pumpkins Raspberry Strawberry

Both types of cherries are dried and sold as specialty items in the dried fruits market. They are considered a good, but not great, source for Vitamin C. Research continues on their antioxidant properties. Most current research suggests that some of their Vitamin C content is lost during drying.

Fresh cherries are well known for their short shelf life. Drying them extends their shelf life up to a year.

Choosing which type of cherries to dry at home is a matter of taste preferences and location. The decision is all but made for people with cherry trees on their property. Choices for those living in areas with U-pic cherry orchards expand, however U-pic orchard choices come with the cost of the fruit.

Most of the brand name dehydrators on the market work for cherries. They operate on principles similar to microwave ovens, with a range of watt outputs and power settings.

Drying cherries starts with washing them, and then removing their stems and pits.

Place them on a drying rack as the picture on the left shows. Set the dehydrator at a medium temperature in the 140^o range.

Depending on your dehydrator's power, measured in total watts, the drying process takes anywhere from 6-18 hours. Basically you are looking for soft pliable fruit chips.

If you are only drying one rack of cherries using one of the more powerful dehydrators, you can make a better estimate of time at about the six hour mark. As a rule of thumb, you might want to wait an additional hour for each additional rack.

Compared to many other fruits, cherries take longer to dry. Over drying is only recommended for people who enjoy their dried fruit on the crispy side.

Cherries are already little bundles of natural sugar dressed up as fruit, so there is no need to add additional sugar.

Dried cherries have a variety of uses. They rehydrate easily and look and taste great in lemonade and ice tea. Cherries also compliment the traditional Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. Your recipe choices vary according to your tastes.

© 2004-2007. Patricia A. Michaels.