Significant Dried Fruits
Why drying changes the numbers
Drying fruit doesn’t add anything — it removes water. That’s why the nutrients left behind, like iron, potassium and fibre, look more concentrated per 100g than in fresh fruits. Same fruit, less water, denser numbers on the label.
Dried apricots, prunes and raisins carry more iron per gram than their fresh counterparts, for that same reason. Useful to know if you track iron intake through food rather than supplements — a food-source fact, not a treatment for anything.
The tradeoff: portion size
The concentration effect works on sugar too, which is the catch. Dried fruit is easy to overeat compared to fresh, because a small handful can equal several whole pieces of fruit. Portion by the handful, not by the bag, and it stays a sensible snack rather than a dessert in disguise.
Dried fruits also keep for months without refrigeration, which is the real reason they’ve been a pantry staple for centuries — a storage advantage from before fridges existed, not a modern discovery. That shelf life is what makes buying in bulk worth it rather than a small bag at a time. Our full range and wider healthy food picks cover the options if you want to compare varieties.