Dried fruit contains more sugar than fresh fruit

Most people prefer to snack on dried fruit over the fresh fruit version because it is more practical. Almost any fruit can be dried, from bananas, pineapples, dates, grapes (raisins or sultanas), prunes (prunes), to orange peels (sukade). But when comparing dried fruit to fresh fruit, which one has more sugar? Come see the reviews below.

How is dried fruit made?

There are two main ways to make dry fruit, namely drying them in the sun for a long time or drying them in a special tool.

As long as the fruit is dried, almost all of its water content will evaporate away. This drying process makes the fruit appear smaller, lighter, and wrinkled.

Which has the most sugar content: dried fruit or fresh fruit?

Fresh fruit is a food source that is high in sugar. Even dried fruit still contains sugar. This is because the drying process of the fruit will not reduce the sugar content very much. What is removed is water, aka the juice.

So when compared, the sugar content in one slice of fresh fruit and one slice of the dry version is not that different. For example, 30 grapes contain 12 grams of sugar and 48 calories. With the same amount, 30 raisins contain 10 grams of sugar and 47 calories. Not that much difference, right?

However, it is different when we compare per volume, aka the weight of the mass. The sugar content in dried fruit will be higher than fresh fruit, because the number of units in the volume of dried fruit is more than that of fresh fruit. For example like this: 100 grams of raisins can contain 250 grapes dry, while 100 grams of fresh grapes consist of only 30-40 fruits. That's why 100 grams of raisins can contain up to 60 grams of sugar and 300 calories, while 100 grams of fresh grapes contain only 16 grams of sugar and 65 calories.

What's more, some of the fruit's taste can be very sour and almost impossible to eat when dried. That's why a lot of dried fruit is added with sugar or syrup during the manufacturing process to make it more suitable for consumption. The addition of sugar or syrup can further increase the sugar content in dried fruit.

Hence, snacking on dried fruit should not be too much

The process of drying the fruit will reduce its original size to a mini size because the water content has been lost. That's why sometimes eating dried fruit can make you forget yourself. You may not realize you've been snacking too much because of the endless fun chewing dry fruit.

Unlike what you might feel when snacking on fresh grapes. You can estimate how much you should eat because the large round shape is clearly visible. In addition, the water content in fresh fruit also helps you feel full quickly.

Yes. Even though they both weigh 1oo gram, the number of units between dry fruit and fresh fruit is very different. You can find about 30-40 grapes in a 100 gram measure, while 100 grams of raisins can consist of 250 dry grapes.

Remember that dried fruit still contains sugar and calories. The more you eat dried fruit, the calorie and sugar intake will also increase. If it's too much, snacking on dried fruit can still have the risk of increasing body weight and increasing blood sugar even though it's still a healthy fruit.

Also, be sure to always read the label information on the nutritional value of the candied fruit you buy to find out how much sugar it is