Dried Mangoes

My wonderful husband gave me a dehydrator this week for my birthday!! How spoiled am I!?! We had talked about it months ago, when we wondered how much cheaper it would be to dry our own mangoes, as we both LOVE them as a snack.

So you can imagine that I was very excited to try my new toy, and since it came with a few mangoes (hehehe... cute touch), those were the first to get cut and put in the machine.

My new dehydrator

The first batch dried a lot faster than I had anticipated (according to google), but I had cut the pieces too thin. So I pretty much made mango paper! It tasted good, but it looked pretty weird.

So I tried again and this time cut the pieces thicker. I also added a row of apples, just out of curiosity.

ready to dry

This batch took many hours to dry, but the result was divine! Dried mangoes are like fruit candy, but there's absolutely nothing added to them. It's just the natural sugars that become more concentrated. They really are difficult to resist, and it's definitely a case of can't-eat-just-one!

Yummy and healthy "candy". Best snack ever!

Out of my two mangoes, I got at least 3 times the amount I would get in a small bag from the store. It also cost a fraction of the price.

My husband calculated that the required energy / electricity (3.5kWh) for this batch cost about 8 DKK (Danish Crowns). We paid 5 DKK each for the mangoes. That gave a total of 18 DKK.
Divided by 3 would be 6 DKK for about the same amount I would get in a store for 20 DKK or more.
(click here for currency converter)

Plus, I know that nothing has been added - especially if the mangoes are ecologic of course, which I can't say mine were. Shame we can't grow them in Denmark!

There are so many possibilities with the dehydrator. One can dry fruit, veggies, herbs, berries, mushrooms, etc. From what I gathered, dried goods retain most of their nutritional value and can be stored for many months. I think it could be a great way to save surplus harvest. Dried fruit and berries can be used as snacks, in cereals, porridge or in desserts. Dried veggies, mushrooms and herbs can be used in cooking of course. It seems like a good way to use one's own harvest even in the cold season. The device came with 3 trays, but I can stack up to 10 trays! Only issue is storing the thing when not in use! ;)

Huge thanks to my husband. *muuaahh!* This is a very nice addition to my gardening hobbies! (please don't eat all the mangoes... ) ;)