Hello everyone!
So, you just finished a dehydrating a big batch of fruit and you’re left wondering, what in the world am I supposed to do with this stuff?
I thought you’d never ask.
Today we are going to make dehydrated fruit powder. Why would anyone want to make their own fruit powder? Here are some suggestions for what you can do with it.
Contents
How to Use Fruit Powder
There are so many delicious uses for your homemade fruit powder. You can:
- Add fruit power to hot or cold cereal
- Add powdered fruit to muffins, cakes, quick breads, etc.
- Add fruit powders to smoothies
- Use dried fruit powder when making homemade ice cream/frozen yogurt/sorbet
- Add fruit powder to your fermented beverages for a zingy second ferment. (What am I talking about? Stay tuned, tutorial for this coming soon.)
- You can rehydrate fruit powders for a fruit puree like applesauce at a later date.
- Even use it for makeup! You can use dried beet powder as a blush, or add it into homemade lip balm. Snazzy.
You see, you can let your creativity go wild with fruit powders. Be sure to let me know how you use it in the comments section. 🙂
Let’s get started. This is super easy.
How to Make Homemade Fruit Powder
Materials needed:
- Dried fruit (I used dried peaches for this tutorial. Learn how to dehydrate peaches here.) – NOTE: It is helpful to freeze the dried fruit beforehand, for cleaner blending.
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder. Optional, but helpful. (where to buy arrowroot)
- Blender, high-powered will get you the best results (where to find high-powdered blenders)
Step One
Dump your dehydrated fruit and arrowroot into your blender.
Step Two
Now turn your blender on Low, then slowly work your way up to High. Let it run until you end up with a fine powder.
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A Word…
There’s a little caveat with fruit powder. Many dehydrated fruits are somewhat sticky, due to the sugar content. Make sure your dried fruit is dried very well. As in, you shouldn’t just dump in a box of raisins and expect them to powder-ify. Again, with the word.
That being said, even when you are using a well-dried batch of fruit, the stickiness is simply innate in the fruit. No worries, friend!
If you’re turned off by the clumps, add 1/2 – 1 tsp of arrowroot powder(a healthy starch, similar to cornstarch) to the pile of fruit before blending, and it will go a long way to lessen clumping. We got you covered here.
The End Product
Yum.
Now here it is, in recipe card format for those of you who roll that way 💜
Print
How to Make Homemade Fruit Powder
- Total Time: 5 minutes
Description
Homemade fruit powder tutorial.
Ingredients
- Dried fruit – NOTE: It is helpful to freeze the dried fruit beforehand, for cleaner blending.
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder. Optional, but helpful.
- Also, a blender, high-powered, will get you the best results
Instructions
- Dump your dehydrated fruit and arrowroot into your blender.
- Now turn your blender on Low, then slowly work your way up to High. Let it run until you end up with a fine powder.
- Done!
Notes
Many dehydrated fruits are somewhat sticky, due to the sugar content. Make sure your dried fruit is dried very well.
- Prep Time: 5 min
There you have it, one of the easiest tutorials ever: fruit powder. Enjoy!
Pin: How to Make Homemade Fruit Powder
I’ve used powdered blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries in fresh lemonades every summer for years! Add it anytime you are making fresh lemonade, and let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving. YUM!
What a great idea, Stephanie! Thanks for the tip!
Can make organic fruit drinks by just adding water & sugar. Never thought about dehydrating the fruit and making a powder, what a great idea for not wasting any fresh good fruit and what a great idea for long term storage”. My family makes fresh fruit drinks out of just fruit, We do strawberry, pineapple, apple, peach, pear, etc. fruit juice drinks for the family, We just blend the fresh fruit, add water and sugar and serve. So with the dehydrated fruit, it would be the dehydrated fruit, just add water and sugar to taste and serve to drink.
i think i really wanna try this. but how long does this last on the shelf? any storage tips?
Hi Kristine! Since it is dried fruit, it will last 6-12 months in the pantry, assuming it was dehydrated well and kept in an airtight container.
I have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer that has an attachment (separate purchase) that fits over the lid of a canning jar without the ring. I push the button and it vacuum seals the jar. (Please note that this method DOES NOT replace canning and is not for storing wet contents.) This is how I store all of my dried foods, nuts, dry beans, etc.. It is much more practical than buying the bags or rolls to seal all of it, plus it is a more secure seal. The bags can easily get a hole and then they lose their seal. Also, delicate items, such as beet chips, break from the pressure of the vacuum process. They remain in perfect condition in the jars. I use only wide mouth jars because I can get my hand inside to pull out food or to wash them. One word of caution (from my own experience, boo hoo), do not try to vacuum seal extremely fine, light weight powders and flours, such as arrowroot, tapioca, corn starch, etc. It will plug up the insides of the machine. My last machine would still seal a jar but it would not shut off so I did not know when all of the air was out. After buying a new one, my DH took apart the old one, further than they really want customers to go, and it was all white inside. No amount of cleaning would get the machine back to being able to shut off. To test if a powdery product will work in the sealer, fill the jar, leaving at least 2 inches of space at the top of the jar. Be sure that the jar rim and the rubber seal on the lid are totally free from even the smallest particles. Put the attachment over the lid and push it down into place. Turn on the sealer and watch to see if there is any movement in the contents such as: 1. Contents are slowly climbing toward the lid. 2. Visible channels are forming with product moving through them causing a flurry of activity in the empty space. If either of these happen, hit CANCEL immediately and do not try to seal that product.
I’m researching how to make powdered fruit smoothies to send to my brother in Afghanistan. Any ideas of what else I can add to the mix!?
Melissa, what a great idea!!! You can add grass-fed powdered gelatin for a high-quality protein that has an amazing healing effect on the body. (About 1 Tablespoon per smoothie.) It would be great for your brother! You can find it here in bulk: https://lovelovething.com/gelatin – I cannot recommend it enough for smoothies!
Other ideas would be finely shredded coconut, cocoa, cinnamon (if he likes those types of flavors). Wheatgrass powder like this one: http://amzn.to/1r0tPOP and I also love this high-quality protein mix: http://amzn.to/1nBq1SW and highly recommend it. I also have added these packets (1 per smoothie) and enjoyed the energy they gave as well: http://amzn.to/1qCiIcM
Many thanks to your brother for his service to our country! <3
You linked to the best gelatin from what I have read from other sites but I would suggest linking to a single can vs 2 cans if you get a commission since someone just trying it out would probably just by 1 at first not knowing what to expect.
Thanks, Kristina! Good point. 🙂
What about freeze dried ice cream, crushed, and powdered milk?
Mango powder is sometimes added to certain Indian dishes.
You can also make a simple desert with dried fruit (like peaches and cherries lets say, or whatever you like really), honey, some lime juice, and a little lime zest. Then take some whipped creme cheese or ricotta cheese and put the mixture on top of the cheese (add some vanilla and maybe a little sugar to the cheese, to taste). Spoon onto shortbread cookies or just enjoy on it's own. Very easy, very delicious.
You can also buy the powder if you don’t want to take the time to dry it and grind it yourself. Activz has some here: https://activz.com/fruit-powders/ They also do veggie powders!
I heard that you can color frosting with fruit powder. Is that true??
I have never tried it! Sounds like it might work, though!
I have used carrot juice to color frosting orange/yellow, as well as, charcoal powder for black frosting. Fruit powder should definitely work!
Hi Danielle,
I would like to ask your opinion by the following
1. When using the dehydrator, how are we confident only water is dehydrated and all fruit nutrients still remain ? If it loss some nutrients
normally, are there any affordable methods to keep nutrients as much as possible ?
2. Do you think we can adapt this method to vegetable?
Thanks,
Jo
Hi Jo, I guess I can’t be 100% sure that no vitamin content is lost, however, the water is the main component that is leaving, so most should remain intact. Dehydrating at a low heat is a great way to retain as much nutrition as possible in an affordable manner. Yes, you can definitely dehydrate vegetables! Check out the link in my sidebar for Dehydrator Recipes – I hope that gives you a good start!
I dehydrate vegetables all the time. I use the big leaves (stems removed) from cruciferous plants that we do not normally eat for meals and dry them until crispy, crush them with my hands and place them in a jumbo zip bag. When I have a bag full, I grind them to powder in my Vita-Mix. This can be used for green drink mix, added to smoothies, vegetable drinks, soups or use your imagination. What do I do with the stems, you ask? Juice them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays, pop them out and store in an air-tight bag in the freezer for use in soups, smoothies, drinks, etc. I used to dry raw ones at 118 degrees to retain their raw properties but I have heard and read from some sources that eating them raw can cause problems with your thyroid so, from now on, I will dry them from raw at 155 degrees or steam them and then dry them at 155 degrees. I do dry beet and sweet potato leaves raw at 118 degrees. I dry steamed green beans at 155 degrees. They are crunchy and delicious dried and are a great addition to soup or stew, even stir fry, when dehydrated. I love to cook and slip-skin my beets, then slice them thin and dehydrate them. They make GREAT chips. I also cube and dry cooked beets, turnips, rutabaga, butternut squash and sweet potatoes for later use. Since they are already cooked, I dry them at 155 degrees. I am also experimenting with making chips from some of these, too. Summer squash and zucchini are great to dry from raw. If I want to make chips, I slice them thin and dry them at 118 degrees. If I want to dry chunks that I will use in cooking, I dry them at 155 degrees. Right now I am drying raw tomato wedges with skin on at 155 degrees. I stand them up, skin side down on parchment paper-lined trays and sprinkle Himalayan salt over them. When they get dry, I plan to grind them into powder to use for soups and sauces or whatever. I also make yogurt in my dehydrator.
Hi,
Great post, I was searching to make dried apple powder, when I came across your post 🙂 I don’t have a dehydrator, can I sun dry it? Will there be loss of nutrients if sun-dried?
Thanks in advance
Hello! I have never tried sun drying, so I am not sure about the loss of nutrients. I know some people like to use an oven on the lowest setting (even leaving the oven door open a bit), and there are some posts I’ve seen online about how to do that, if you are interested in using an oven. However, if you are wanting to, I think sun drying would be something to look into! <3
I’ve sun dried mostly apricots on the dashboard of a hot car for a few days in the summer, until the fruit is the right texture! (Cut into pieces and put on a parchment paper, not touching, in a cookie sheet.) I usually store the dried fruit then in the freezer, because they are not 100% preserved and could get moldy over time. Still, the drying is worth it because more fits in the freezer than if I stored fresh fruit.
Vitamin C is not heat stable, so any method involving heat could reduce that. And freezing (except for very quick freezing done by commercial frozen food makers) may degrade some of the protein. I’d think the fiber still survives it all and plenty of minerals.
I’m curious If I can use fruit powder in body care products. I currently infuse beet root powder in olive oil, strain it off when it is done and use it to make lip balm. Can I use other fruit or Veggie powders using this same method?
Sure Michelle! I have an upcoming post about that very thing. <3
How many days it can keep ?
If in an airtight container, it can keep on the shelf for up to a year.
How long should I put the dehydrated fruit in the freezer?
Excellent idea .Thanks for this ..
<3
Just found a recipe for blueberry pie crust using blueberry poeder.
Hello Danielle,
Thanks for your blog, it’s very interesting. I just bought a powerful dehydrator to make my own fruit/vegetable powder but I am wondering if you change the suggested temperature and thickness and/or dehydrating time to arrive to change fruits/veggies in powder at the end of the process ? They usually suggest in the manuel 1/4 inch thick for both fruits and veggies and 135F for fruits and 125F for veggies (obviously time of dehydration changes each type of food). I guess you are looking for the crispiest texture to change them in powder ?
Please help before I start testing and waist most of my food before arriving to the perfect texture 😉
I’m not sure it makes that much of a difference on the temperature. The thing I’ve found to help the most is freezing the fruit/vegetable beforehand for easiest blending into powder. I hope that helps!!
I want to make a powdered drink powder to take with me when traveling. This may be a stupid question, but will this dissolve in water?
That’s a great idea! I don’t believe this will dissolve in water, because it’s not like a dehydrated juice, it’s dried fruit. So the little fruit particles will probably swell. It would probably still work as long as you shake well and don’t mind the little particles floating around. 🙂
How do you make smoothies with these powders? My daughter is leaving for college in a few months and I want to make up smoothie packets for her that she can add her wet ingredients to to make her smoothies at school.
That’s so sweet! You’d have to experiment a little and see about the amounts, but I would consider adding collagen powder for her (healthy protein!). Mix some fruit powder and also tell her to add her favorite milk and some ice, if she can. I bet that would be yummy. You can add cacao powder too., actually there are so many possibilities! I might have to try this out myself. <3 Thanks for the great comment.
Do you thi k it can sub for sugar?
Not 1-1, but it will add a bit of sweetness. Great idea!
How well would this work on Monks Fruit? Would the process need to be tweaked in any way?
Good question, but I have no idea as I’ve never eaten or used it. <3
So freaking cool! This will help me so much with my protein drinks!
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Freez dried strawberries, pulsed in bullet, wanted to use in teas, water, to flavor drinks. The fruit clumps. What can you use in a drink mix type item. To stop clumping and mix in better. Time?
Since it is technically small pieces of fruit, I’m not sure they would ever dissolve in water or tea. 🙁
Research using arrowroot powder. Find it in the baking aisle. Sometimes also found with the spices. A small amount goes a long way. It’s a food that acts as an anti-caking agent.
Hai, Daniele, I have naturally sun-dried Raisins. How can I make powder of it
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