Adding dried fruit to granola looks like the easiest step in the recipe. It is in fact the step that decides the shelf life.
What does dried fruit do in granola?
Two things, and the two work against each other.
The first is sweetness; the concentrated sugar in dried fruit reduces the need for added sugar.
The second is moisture; dried fruit carries fifteen to twenty-five percent water, and that water migrates into the granola.
Granola sits below three percent moisture, and dried fruit upsets that balance.
The result is a product that loses its crunch within weeks.
| Dried fruit | Moisture | Sugar (100 g) | Share in granola |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raisins | 15-18% | 59-65 g | 10-15% |
| Dried apricot | 20-25% | 50-55 g | 8-12% |
| Dried cranberry | 14-18% | 60-68 g | 8-12% |
| Dates | 20-25% | 63-70 g | 5-10% |
| Freeze-dried fruit | 2-3% | 55-70 g | 5-10% |
When does the dried fruit go in?
After baking, and that is the most important rule in the recipe.
Dried fruit that goes into the oven burns and leaves a bitter taste.
With so much sugar, caramelisation runs very fast.
The fruit gets stirred in once the granola has cooled completely on the tray.
Added to warm granola it releases its moisture at once and dissolves the clusters.
How does the moisture transfer get slowed?
Three methods get used.
The first dries the fruit first: fifteen minutes in a hundred-degree oven.
The second uses freeze-dried fruit, below two percent moisture, where transfer barely happens.
The third packs the fruit separately and mixes it at the moment of eating.
Commercial products do not use the third, though it gives the best result at home.
A desiccant sachet also slows the process.
How much can the added sugar come down?
Dried fruit covers part of the sweetness.
Liquid sweetener can fall from twenty percent to fifteen.
Below that, clustering breaks down; the sugar also works as the adhesive.
So dried fruit cannot replace sugar entirely.
In terms of total sugar the difference is small anyway; the sugar in dried fruit is still sugar.
Which dried fruits get used in granola?
Raisins are the most common: cheap, durable and neutral.
Dried cranberry brings acid and balances the sweetness of the granola.
Dried apricot goes in coarsely chopped; with high moisture, its share stays low.
Dates are very sweet and go in as small pieces in small quantity.
Freeze-dried strawberry and raspberry get chosen because they create no moisture problem, though they cost more.
How do the clusters survive in dried fruit granola?
The clusters form during baking; the fruit joins them afterwards.
Stirring the fruit in happens gently; vigorous stirring breaks the clusters.
The mixture goes into the jar by spoon rather than poured.
The jar does not get filled to the top; pieces moving in the space break each other.
The fruit is heavier and sinks over time, so the jar gets turned gently before use.
Why do the oats need to be gluten-free?
Oats contain no gluten by nature.
The problem is mixing with wheat in the field, in transport and at the mill.
Measurements on standard oats often pass the twenty-parts-per-million limit.
Where the label does not say gluten-free oats, the granola does not count as gluten-free.
The dried fruit needs checking too; some dried fruit gets dusted with flour to stop it sticking.
What portion of dried fruit granola applies?
Forty to fifty grams.
That is about two heaped tablespoons.
Dried fruit granola is slightly denser than the plain version; the fruit sugar raises the calories.
A forty-gram portion carries 180 to 210 kilocalories.
With two hundred millilitres of milk or yoghurt the meal reaches 290 to 340.
What is the nutritional value of dried fruit granola?
A hundred grams carries 440 to 490 kilocalories.
Carbohydrate runs 58 to 66 grams, pulled above plain granola by the fruit.
Fat sits at 16 to 22 grams.
Protein comes to 8 to 11 grams.
Fibre reaches 7 to 10 grams, with both the oats and the fruit contributing.
How does dried fruit granola get eaten?
With milk or yoghurt, the most common use.
With yoghurt the crunch lasts longer.
It also gets eaten dry as a snack.
Scattered over a smoothie bowl.
Added to hot porridge, where the dried fruit softens and the sweetness comes forward.
How does dried fruit granola get stored?
In a sealed jar at room temperature it keeps two or three weeks.
That runs shorter than plain granola; moisture from the fruit ends the crunch faster.
A desiccant sachet in the jar extends it by about a week.
It sits somewhere cool and dark; light oxidises the oil in the nuts quickly.
It does not go into a fridge; condensation forms every time it opens.
What gets checked on a packaged granola?
The oats have to be declared gluten-free.
Sulphite preservative deserves a look on the dried fruit, particularly apricot and raisins.
Whether the fruit carries a flour coating gets read from the ingredient list.
Added sugar appears in the nutrition panel; the phrase sweetened with natural sugar does not guarantee there is none.
The type of fat is the fourth item; palm oil raises the saturated fat figure.
How does dried fruit granola get made at home?
Oats, nuts and seeds get mixed in a bowl.
The oil and sweetener heat together and go over the mixture, which gets stirred thoroughly.
It spreads on a tray and gets pressed with a spatula.
It bakes thirty to forty minutes at a hundred and fifty degrees, stirred every ten.
Once cool on the tray the dried fruit goes in and gets folded through gently.
How does granola come out of the jar?
By spoon; pouring breaks the clusters.
The jar gets turned gently before use; the dried fruit is heavier and sinks.
A wet spoon has no place; a single drop of water raises the moisture in the jar.
The jar does not get filled to the top.
A small container gets set aside for daily use so the main jar opens rarely.
