Sun is Shining: Solar Energy and Agriculture

Dried fruit is a delicious and nutritious snack, and is a good complement to other dishes. Use it to top ice cream or cereal, or add it to cakes. Dried fruit tastes sweeter than fresh fruit because the water has been taken out of it, which makes the flavor of the fruit concentrated. 

Using a dehydrator with solar energy is perhaps the most convenient and environmentally friendly method of drying fruit.Using solar heat for drying has become popular because it is especially well suited for delicate crops, and will not burn or harm produce, which may happen with steam heated or fossil-fuel heated air. These systems are effective and cost-efficient in other process drying and heating applications.

Drying removes the moisture from the food so bacteria, yeast and mold cannot grow and spoil the food. Drying also slows down the action of enzymes (naturally occurring substances which cause foods to ripen), but does not inactivate them.

In drying, warm temperatures cause the moisture to evaporate. Low humidity allows moisture to move quickly from the food to the air. Air current speeds up drying by moving the surrounding moist air away from the food. Because drying removes moisture, the food becomes smaller and lighter in weight. When the food is ready for use, the water is added back, and the food returns to its original shape.

Some advantages of solar dried fruit:

• Drying is a low-cost way to preserve food
• Dried foods retain more of their nutrients than bottled or canned foods
• Dehydrated fruits require less storage space than bottled or canned goods
• Storing the dehydrated foods does NOT require electricity

If you want to get started at home, let us know and we can point you in the right direction!

Fresh or Dried? Sink your teeth into Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) grown on volcanic mountainsides in Nicaragua! Fresh or Dried, lightly sweet but slightly crunchy, looking summery yet also a fall fruit-simply exotic.

Pitaya is the fruit’s indigenous name in its home territory in Central America and is the new trend delivering B vitamins, calcium, carotene, fiber, phosphorous and vitamin C. Dragon fruit also only has 60 calories, reflecting its low sugar level. You want it dried on your salads or desserts? It's a fruit filled with health benefits, flavor and fun! The best pitaya fruits with red magenta interior can be found in Central America. Up until now, pitaya has been mostly known in latino communities in the US as it has been rarely imported and marketed outside of ethnic markets.

Sol Simple works with pitaya farmers to make sure only the best of the best pitaya goes into all of our products. The living proof is we have recently obtained NOP organic certification for our small producers and our pitaya products.  Besides nutritious benefits, Sol Simple packs others such as coordinating small producers and supporting single moms and their families with flexible employment.  Best of all, our pitaya is completely solar dried, greatly reducing our carbon footprint. Now available as a beverage, smoothie pack or solar dried in certain Whole Foods Markets, convenience stores and smoothie shops via our affiliate, Pitaya Plus.

Nourish your body, Nurture your planet!