Upgrade Your Dried Fruit With A Sour Candy Twist

Dried fruit is an undeniably tasty treat to take along when hiking, on a picnic, or anywhere you go for a dependable snack. However, sometimes this staple can taste, well, a bit dry. If you find dried fruit to be bland, one way of zhuzhing it up is by treating it like candy and giving it a sour coating. You can imitate all the flavors of Sour Patch Kids, sour gummy bears, and other popular puckery confections — but with a slightly more nutritious base — by using citric acid.

Citric acid is a crystalized compound that is often used to flavor foods, but also works as a preservative. It gives many sour candies their tart taste, and while this ingredient sounds hard to find, it can be easily bought online or in some well-stocked grocery stores. Rolling dried berries, applies, apricots, and more in the powder adds an instant zap of tangy goodness.

Adding powdered citric acid to your dried fruits is simple. First, you want to mix your powder with sugar to cut some of the sourness. You can start with 2:1 ratio of sugar to citric acid, if you'd like to ease into the sour taste, or use a 1:1 ratio if you're feeling brave. To help the coating stick on, dip the fruit into simple syrup before rolling it in powder. Bam, your fruit is ready to enjoy — just be prepared to pucker.

While applying citric acid to dried fruit is easy, the ingredient can still be intimidating for the home cook, as it is highly acidic and can even be abrasive. In addition to food, this ingredient is often used in industrial settings as a cleanser. Rest assured that the acid is is safe for use in foods and drinks, and can be an unconventional and useful tool to add a special sour kick to homemade snacks and desserts. You just have to handle it with care. 

For starters, always balance out citric acid with some sugar, so the sheer acidity doesn't burn your tongue. Serious sour fans may be able to handle the taste, but mouth sores are never a good thing. And if you have sensitive skin, wear gloves when handling the citric acid powder to prevent irritation. You should absolutely avoid getting citric acid in your eyes, and wash your hands after handling it.

Don't let all of this deter you from using the acid — after all, other foods like hot peppers have to be handled just as carefully (or even more so). Keep these rules in mind, and you're sure to successfully transform your dried fruit into a drool-worthy treat. The best part is that you can add yet more seasonings to the citric acid and sugar mixture to make the fruits even tastier.

Citric acid powder can serve as a tangy-yet-neutral base for a killer seasoning mix. Try adding in chile powder along with salt, which can turn your the acid into a sour, salty, and spicy seasoning a la Tajin, a popular Mexican spice mix that is often used to top fresh fruits, in addition to summery drinks like a Clamato michelada. Dried tropical fruits like pineapple and mango are delicious with this seasoning. The salt in the mix will enhance the sweetness of the fruit, while the spiciness and sourness temper that same sugary quality.

But maybe you're not in the mood for a spicy and sour treat. You can keep things fruity by adding freeze-dried fruit powder to your citric acid. This will help to double down on the sweetness and create ample opportunity for flavor combinations. Dipping dried mango in frozen pineapple, for example, will give it a tropical twist. But maybe you want to double down on citrus. If this is the case, you can also add lemon or lime zest to your powder mix. This will add a hint of freshness to your preserved fruit that is distinctly lacking. Of course, these are just a few of the possible avenues you can take with your fruit's coating. But no matter what you add, this nifty ingredient is sure to make you see dried fruit in a whole new way.