My Apricots are Brown!

Something I had never given much thought to was the retention of original colour in dehydrated fruits. Just went shopping for dried apricots for a dish I am doing and they are fairly dark brown, which surprised me and instigated some research (the results of which probably won't come as a surprise to many here).

I had known that many fruits are treated with anti-oxidants in the drying process - usually ascorbic acid or citric acid, as I have done that myself with fruits that oxidize easily like apples

Many fruits, when they go through the dehydration process, can end up a fairly unappetizing brown. To make them more saleable, they are exposed to sulphur dioxide. There is probably no negative effect for most people if you eat the bright orange version, but for those who have a tendency to asthma it can be a real problem.

I shall henceforth use only undyed dates to avoid putting guests into respiratory distress.

[Jenise]

I have asthma but don't react to the sulphur--I know because I can eat a whole bag of dried apricots at one sitting. I absolutely ADORE dried apricots. The problem I have, though, is that most commercially available are plumped in a sugar solution before dehydration which makes them unnaturally sweet and very differently textured than a good slab apricot. The only source I know of for the latter is Trader Joe's.

I have the brown ones which have hopefully not been artificially sweetened. You will be tasting them very soon.....

I have mild asthma (i.e., not worth medically treating). I've never noticed any reactions from the sulphites in dried fruits, but I do notice tightness in the throat/chest from eating McDonald's french fries. Or at least I did the last several times I ate them, probably coming up on 15 years ago now. At least then Mickey D dusted their sliced potatoes with sulphite to prevent them turning brown before frying.

My take on the bottom line: yes, this is an issue for some, and those people will already know who they are and be on the lookout for sulphites. For the vast majority of us, not a problem.

Remember all the hoo-hah over the "contains sulphites" labeling for wine? It's the same issue, although sulphite levels in dried fruit (and some fast food french fries) are many times the levels found in wine.

-Paul W.