Dried Fruit - Storage?

When having leftover fruit , once opened what is the best way to store as it tends to dry out very quickly and I often waste fruit that way as i dont do so many fruit cakes and it seems such a waste of fruit.

I put my fruit in a sealed bag and store it in the fridge usually the crisper and I have never had any problems. If it is dry just soak it in alcohol or orange juice

You can also freeze it. I have a problem with moths so mine always goes in the fridge, freezer or alcohol!

I am with you both on this one, Absolutely no problems as there are no creepy crawlies to attack your precious (and Expensive fruit invesment).
Doesnt seem to do anything much but preserve your shelf life of the fruit, I have one of those dry freezers which is great especially in the warmer weather when weevils etc are rampant, also frees up my cupboard space for things more important like chocolate and bikkies, lol.

while we are on the subject of storing dried fruit is there any time limit you can have it soaking in alcohol for, I have had some soaking for a few months and have some fruit cakes to bake for clients, I was going to start a fresh batch soaking, can I throw this pre soaked fruit in. I have just kept it in the cupboard?

Absolutely yes Mzsweet go ahead and make sure you get a tiny cake for yourself too if you like a good fruit cake, it will be a superb cake, the alcohol actually prevents any sugars in the fruit fermenting when you add alcohol and in particular if you add a tablespoon or two of Gycerine also this extends the keeping time even further prevents drying out or fruit shrivelling during baking due to moisture losses.

what a great tip, thanks sugarman

Sugarman - what is a dry freezer??

LOL - do you mean you have access to cryogenics???

What a great topic! I always wondered how long can I soak the fruits for.

TiaMaria wrote:Sugarman - what is a dry freezer??

LOL - do you mean you have access to cryogenics???

Hehe I wish !
No Tia, I have a commercial Freezer with a blast function which is ice free so i never have to defrost the darn thing - just wash it out regularly and things dont ice upand stick together they can easily be seperated, in particular great for storing small lidded buckets of ingredients, icings,in summer my flours and grains ,dried fruits and all types of nuts so they dont go rancid and off also helps me chill cakes rapidly which have just come out of the oven and go in hot, also for icecream cakes and such. cryogenics wouldnt be bad tho would it sometimes but then i think they have to pack things in vacuum sealed bags for that. i wouldnt know where to start.

Ah - I see... Thanks for the explanation...

Is there a limit or should I say minimum amount of alcohol per 1 kg of fruit? And do you count that alcohol as already added when actually baking cake or you weigh the fruit as per normal & add the extra alcohol as per the recipe?

Yana, if you soak all your fruit, it is a good idea to add a couple of spoons just to dampen every so often, rather than cover in alcohol. It will make a difference to your cooking time, but only you can test that. If not cooked till most of the wet has dried out, you may get seepage. I have seen honey-like liquid dripping from a show cake and it colours the icing as well. Also a warning to everyone, boiled fruit cake although so lovely to eat, only has a shelf life of 6 weeks, unless of course it is frozen. I soak my cherries forever, covered in brandy, then add some of this liquid to the mixture and I still get a nice moist cake with a great flavour. Of course, if you are having a busy down day, a little of the brandy in a small glass with some pouring cream on top can be taken for medicinal purposes!!!

Thank you, Alice! That what I was doing, but went by intuition more than knowledge.