Fruit snacks

Crunchy fruit pieces,
dried without hot air.

Freeze-dried mango, pineapple and banana pieces give a fruit snack its crunch, color and flavor without hot air. It comes as pieces or dice, or in your own cut. The crunch lasts as long as the pieces stay dry, so packaging is part of the specification.

01 — What freeze drying gives a snack

Crunch, color and flavor, without cooking the fruit.

Fresh fruit is mostly water: about 84 g in every 100 g of mango, 86 g in pineapple and 75 g in banana, according to USDA data. Freeze drying freezes that water and then removes it as vapor under vacuum, so the fruit never sits in hot air while it dries. What is left is a light, porous piece of the same size and shape as the fresh cut.

That porous structure is the snack: it breaks with a dry snap and then dissolves on the tongue, which is a different eating experience from the chewy, dense texture of hot-air-dried fruit. Put the same piece in milk or yogurt and it takes up water quickly, as described in rehydration and use. Because the piece is not heated through, more of its color and flavor stays with it. In one published study on mango, freeze drying retained vitamin C better than heat drying; not every compound in every fruit behaves the same way.

We freeze dry three fruits: mango, pineapple and banana. Each is a single ingredient, with nothing added, freeze dried and packed at the plant at Lake Naivasha. The illustration on this page is a mock-up of the product type, not our product.

02 — How pieces are used

Whole, broken, coated or dusted.

Each snack format asks something different of the piece.

Format	What you use	When it goes in	What to watch
Bagged crunchy fruit	Whole pieces or dice, one fruit or a mix	Filled straight into the consumer pack	Breakage and fines; set a piece-size range.
Snack mixes with nuts or seeds	Dice or broken pieces	Dry-blended last, just before filling	Nuts and seeds carry more moisture; match water activities or the fruit softens.
Chocolate- or yogurt-coated pieces	Whole pieces as the center	Coated in a pan or enrober	A fat-based coating protects the piece; a water-based coating softens it.
Dusted or flavored pieces	Pieces plus a fruit powder made to your specification	Tumbled with the powder after drying	Powders take up moisture faster and can cake.
Confectionery with a fruit layer	Fine dice or powder	Added to the cooled mass or the final layer	Keep the fruit out of hot, wet stages.

Fruit powders are made only when you ask. Test each fruit in your own format.

03 — Water activity and packaging

The crunch lasts as long as the piece stays dry.

Water activity measures how freely the water in a food is available. Freeze-dried fruit and vegetable powders are reported at a water activity of about 0.20 to 0.35, well below the 0.60 at which microbes can grow. A crisp freeze-dried piece only stays crisp while it stays down there.

Freeze-dried fruit is hygroscopic: it pulls moisture from the air, and the sugars in fruit make it sticky and soft once it does. Water also moves between components in a mixed snack, from the one with the higher water activity to the one with the lower, until they meet; the same problem in cereal and bars is covered under inclusions. The two controls are a moisture barrier around the product and a formula in which every component sits at a similar water activity.

Oxygen is the second concern. A porous piece has a large surface open to air, so color and flavor change faster when oxygen gets in. For a consumer pack, that points to a high-barrier film and low oxygen in the headspace. We pack our fruit straight after drying in metalized pouches; kept sealed, it has a shelf life of 3 years. We can also pack retail-ready to your specification.

04 — What to specify

What to put in a fruit-snack specification.

Agree these before a pilot run; most are set at the bench trial.

Fruit: mango, pineapple or banana.
Cut and piece size: pieces, dice or your own cut, with an acceptable size range and a limit on fines.
Moisture target, agreed with you at trial and written on the spec sheet.
Micro limits, checked on each lot in our own lab.
Packing: bulk metalized pouches, or retail-ready to your specification.
Lot size for the pilot run and for supply; there is no minimum order.
Documents: the spec sheet, the allergen statement and the certificates you need, on request.

Questions

Questions buyers ask about freeze-dried fruit for snacks.

Which freeze-dried fruits does FD Harvest supply?

FD Harvest freeze dries mango, pineapple and banana, as pieces or dice or in a custom cut. Fruit powders can be made to your specification on request.

Is anything added to the freeze-dried fruit?

No. FD Harvest products are single ingredients: the fruit is cut, frozen and dried, with nothing added.

Why do freeze-dried fruit pieces go soft in a snack mix?

They take up water from wetter components, such as nuts, dried fruit or a coating, until the water activities meet. Matching the water activity of each component, or adding a barrier, keeps the pieces crisp.

How should freeze-dried fruit snacks be packed?

In a high-barrier pack with little oxygen in the headspace, because freeze-dried fruit takes up moisture and oxygen from the air. FD Harvest packs straight after drying in metalized pouches, or retail-ready to your specification.

Can I get samples of freeze-dried mango, pineapple and banana?

Yes. Free samples are shipped globally from the plant at Lake Naivasha, with a spec sheet for each ingredient.

Contact us to discuss your product requirements.

Tell us the snack format, the fruit and the piece size you have in mind. We will send samples for your bench trial.

Crunchy fruit pieces,dried without hot air.