Diet Food Reviews
Apricots: Fresh versus Dried
By: | Jul 13, 2006
On a recent trip to the Super Target, I came across the Archer Farms brand of Dried Apricots. This got me thinking about the difference in nutrition facts of dried versus fresh fruits. The table below lists the nutrition facts of one serving (3) of fresh apricots, and a serving of dried apricots, (5 pieces) - each piece of dried apricot is about the size of a large prune. Surprise surprise - if you eat 3 apricots, you are still enjoying less calories, less sugars and more vitamin content that when you eat the dried fruit.
|
Fresh Apricots (3) | Dried Apricots (5 pieces) |
| Calories | 60 | 90 |
| Total Fat (% daily value) | 2 | 0 |
| Total Carbohydrate (g) | 11 | 22 |
| Sugars (g) | 10 | 19 |
| Fiber (g) | 1 | 3 |
| Vitamin A (%) | 45 | 4 |
| Vitamin C (%) | 20 | 6 |
| Calcium (%) | 2 | 2 |
| Iron (%) | 2 | 0 |
Fresh apricots are usually in season in the US from May to August. They remind me a bit of peaches. "They are small, golden orange fruits, with velvety skin and flesh, not too juicy but definitely smooth and sweet. Some describe their flavor as almost musky, with a faint tartness that lies somewhere between a peach and a plum" [from the World's Healthiest Foods].
I am not saying that there aren't reasons for using dried fruits though. They are great to use in yogurt, salads, muffins and many other recipes. As far as apricots go, they are one of the most nutritious fruits and deserve 5 stars (although I am biased to give just about all fruits a 5/5).
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That's because the fruit has been concentrated. Five pieces of dried apricot is equivalent to eating five fresh apricots, so naturally there are more calories and more sugar than in your *three* fresh ones (you've eaten two less!) Vitamins are delicate, so the drying/packaging process tends to destroy a lot of them.