Freeze Dried Fruits vs. Fresh Fruits

What is the difference between freeze dried fruits and fresh fruits?

While both freeze-dried and fresh fruits are packed full of nutrients, there are a few differences between them. 

For one, the nutritional value can vary between fresh and freeze-dried because of fresh fruit’s tendency to continue ripening, which means the nutritional value within the fruit can diminish over time.

 

In freeze-dried fruits, though, the fruits are picked and flash-frozen at the peak of their ripeness, trapping in all the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. With the exception of vitamin C, which is water-soluble, and several other nutrients found in fruit skins, much of the nutritional content remains inside the fruit when it’s freeze-dried.

 

While it seems that freeze-dried fruit carries more sugar than fresh fruit, this is simply not the case. The key is portion size, as you can eat multiple servings of freeze-dried fruit and not feel full like you would with a banana or apple. This means that the larger the portion of freeze-dried fruit you eat, the more sugar you’re consuming. So the trick is to watch your portions.

 

Freeze-dried fruits can often be cheaper than fresh because of the serving size. One apple can yield as much as two to three separate freeze-dried servings, so when you pay for the price of one package of a freeze-dried product, you may actually end up spending less for a bigger serving size.

 

The tastes can vary between freeze-dried fruits and fresh, too. Most freeze-dried fruits don’t hold the same scent as their fresh fruit counterparts, while some pack a punch of scent, like bananas. Depending on your personal preferences, you might favor the mild flavors of freeze-dried berries compared to the tartness of fresh. When it comes to taste, just experiment with different freeze-dried fruits to find what you like best.

 

Freeze-dried fruit also has a longer shelf life than fresh fruits. Some freeze-dried fruits, if packaged adequately enough, can last up to 25 years. The common range is anywhere from two to 25 years, and some even have a shelf life of 30 years. That’s a seriously long storage time when compared to fresh fruits, or even dried fruits. Because freeze-dried fruits contain as little as less than 1% of their original moisture content, this makes it ideal to store for long periods of time.

 

Freeze-dried can save you time when making salad and smoothie recipes. With pre-packaged varieties, all you have to do is toss it into your smoothie or salad and you’re good to go. You can even powder your freeze-dried fruits to make smoothie blending even easier.

 

The bottom line is that if you can eat fresh, do so, but if you’re looking at freeze-dried fruits as your most convenient options, don’t worry about the nutrient value. You’re getting all the benefits of fresh fruit — it’s just in more convenient packaging.