Whole Dried Strawberries

Please share:

Our local natural foods grocery store has a huge selection of bulk goods, and in that section are little baggies of dried strawberries. They aren’t hard, like chips, but chewy. Absolutely amazing, and I can’t get enough of them. For some reason, they are always 20% off, not that I’m complaining. But I wonder if they just don’t sell enough and then I worry that they will stop selling them. So I decided that I need to figure out the best way to make them myself.

I’ve done this a few times now, and realized that a high dehydrator temp is no good, it’s got to be low, which of course means it will take a LOT longer to dry them out.

I start with whole fresh strawberries (seriously, aren’t they beautiful?!), wash them, and then remove the hull with a small paring knife. Once they are all ready, I give them a good smoosh to flatten them out a little so they will fit better in my dehydrator. Depending on your dehydrator, you might be able to skip that step. Once you’ve got all your pretty red berries on the trays, turn on the dehydrator to the lowest heat seating (mine is 95F).

This will take a while. Mine took nearly 24 hours. I would suggest you start around late afternoon, that way they can dry over night and you can periodically check them throughout the morning/afternoon to make sure they’re the right texture. You don’t want them to be mushy anywhere, but they should still have a little give when you squish it a little. Some might dry faster, depending on size, so just pluck out the ones that dry first so they don’t start to get crunchy.

Once you’ve got the right texture, store them in an airtight container. I keep mine on the counter and they’re just fine. I don’t think there is any reason you should need to refrigerate these. I would also suggest you eat them within a week, but that really shouldn’t be a problem, because they’re so good!

Please share: