hot air-drying is now widely used because it is
more predictable. Home and restaurant cooks
can use the oven or small electric driers
whose temperature is easier to control. Fruits
and vegetables are dried at relatively low
temperatures, 130–160ºF/55–70ºC, to
minimize the loss of flavor and color and
prevent the surface from drying too fast and
impeding moisture loss from within. Pureed
fruits are spread out into thin sheets to make
“fruit leather.” Relatively moist dried fruits
and vegetables are nicely soft, but they’re also
vulnerable to some hardy yeasts and molds,
and therefore are best stored in the
refrigerator.
Freeze-Drying Freeze-drying is a controlled
version of freezer burn: it removes moisture
not by evaporation but by sublimation, the
transformation of ice directly into water
vapor. Although we think of freeze-drying as
a recent industrial innovation, the natives of