Fruit Powder

I am a big believer in getting my nutrition as naturally as possible. Every year I start collecting organic fruit to make into a powder for smoothies. I either dehydrate it or use my friends freeze dryer. When I have enough to put into a Vitamix I pulverize it.

Some of the fruit I use: gooseberries from my backyard, apples from local orchards, organic bananas from the grocery store . Persimmon and paw paw from a friend's trees, Blueberries from on top of the mountain, strawberries from a friend's garden, grapes and autumn berries from our back 40. Each year is different, some years are bumper crops, some years not. I use whatever I can get, find or is given to me. You can use whatever you'd like! If you are allergic to strawberries or other fruit, don't use them.

I start by washing the fruit with Tough n Tender and making sure it's dry. No matter if it's store bought or from the back yard I wash it to get pesticides or pollution off. If it's going into the dehydrator (or if you don't have one put it in your oven at its lowest setting.) I slice it thin so it dries faster. Things like blueberries, grapes and gooseberries I puree first and spread it out thin as it won't dry with the skin on. I do use the skin as there are nutrients in the skin I want. Citrus, kiwi and other fruit that people don't eat the skin, peel first. Don't throw out the citrus skin - we'll get to that later.

If I'm dehydrating, the fruit goes into the dehydrator raw and at room temperature. I dry at 125 degrees for as long as it takes to completely dry, every fruit and batch is different. I will mix fruit to dry. Dehydrated fruit can be a little leathery so don't worry.

Freeze dried fruit

If I'm freeze drying I will usually prefreeze the fruit so it's easier to fill up the freeze dryer and shortens the processing time.

When I have about 4 quarts of dried fruit it goes into the Vitamix for powdering. Any kind of fruit all goes into the Vitamix together.

Freeze dried, pureed persimmon

It powders down into next to nothing. I add all the powders to a quart mason jar and shake it up till it's well mixed. I store the jar in the refrigerator. It doesn't really need to be refrigerated but because of the high sugar content and tendency to clump I prefer the fridge.

Save your citrus peels, they are very high in vitamin C. I freeze dry mine and make it into a powder. When I feel a cold coming on, I throw that into my smoothies as well.

Citrus powder and freeze-dried apple snacks.

The citrus powder is stored in the cupboard alongside my green powder.

When I make a smoothie I use a teaspoon of the fruit powder, and if I'm using the citrus powder I use a teaspoon of that as well.

The Tough and Tender I mentioned earlier in the post is a safe, nontoxic cleaner made with no chemicals. If you'd like more information on that product and the more than 400 products that the company manufactures, please send me an email at jcath@mail.com and put mela in the subject line.

What am I drinking today?

I'm on the run today so I stopped at a coffee roaster in Suffern, NY only a mile or two off the NYS Thruway. It's a cool little place. It used to be a bank. I'll have to go back one day and have my coffee in the vault. Yes, there's a table in the bank vault! How many people can say they had coffee in a bank vault? They also have a shop in White Lake, NY so if you happen to be going to a concert at Bethel Woods (think Woodstock) stop there too!

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