ABSTRACT
One of the oldest methods of curing fruits is by adding sugar, honey, salt, spices, and herb ingredients. These products are commonly called preserved fruits or candied fruits. Cured fruits can be prepared from many kinds of fruits, such as peaches, pears, grapes, plums, crabapples, currants, Chinese olives, and more. Fruits for curing should be in the firm-ripe stage. Cane sugar, beet sugar, com syrup, honey, salt, and some herb or spice flavoring ingredients are commonly used. In general, most curing fruits consist of 65-70% sugar, with water activity values of 0.6-0.8 to control microbial growth. Cured fruits are the most popular products among Asian people. In recent years, consumer awareness of the adverse effect of high sugar and preservatives in cured fruits has resulted in a new approach to develop some low-sugar cured fruits. Cured fruits are excellently served with a variety of entrees, confections, and snacks. In fact, the demand is far more than the supply. Some products are shown in Figure 10.4.
