DIY: Dried Fruit Trail Mix

[renodesertfox]

Howdy,
The big advantage of using various combinations of dried fruit as a trail mix snack is that you can customize your own recipe very easily. Dried fruits like apricots, dried apples, dried papaya chunks and others are easy to buy at any grocery store, so you can choose just the items that you really like.

Here's a great starter recipe for a dried fruit trail mix snack: Combine equal parts of

• Dried Apricots
• Dried Apple Slices
• Dried Papaya Chunks or Cubes
• Dried Mango Chunks or Cubes

If you enjoy crunchy snacks then just add:

• Dried Banana Chips

to balance out the sweetness and softness of the fruity recipe.


The exact proportions of each ingredient are not as important as the flavors and textures that you enjoy, so feel free to swap other ingredients in and out of the basic dried fruit mix above. For example:

• Raisins
• Dried Cranberries
• Dates

If your dried fruit homemade trail mix seems too sweet, then of course you can add in some nuts like almonds or pecans to make a hybrid recipe alternative that moves back in the direction of the usual GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) and other traditional snacks.

[Eaglebait Ranch]

Dried Fruit on the trail

If we make a jam that doesn't jell, we thin it as much as needed, pour it onto drying racks, and make leather out of it: blackberry, eldeerberry, apricot, peach, plum.......

This year, we grew so many pumpkins we made pumpkin pie filling, thinned it, and made "Backpacker's Pumpkin Pie" leather out of it. It is delicious.

When done, we rip off pieces and put them in ziploc bags for spring/summer backpacking. We don't take them winter backpacking because we need more fat than those offer.

See ya on the trail......