Home Made Trail Mix

Part Two: Bananas & Pineapple

By The Bimbler

Following on from part one this section is about dehydrating bananas and pineapples to use when making your own trail mix. You could of course cheat and buy dried fruit from a health food shop but you miss out on the fun of making your own and a whole lot of flavour. Because I now make a lot of my own trail meals the £250 price tag of the Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator was almost bearable. They do hold their value very well so if you ever take the plunge but find you don’t use it for long, stick it on an online auction site and you’ll see most of your money back. Use bananas them when the skins are turning black but the inside is still white, as with all fruit it’s when they’re at the turning point that they have most flavour and this is important for making the best trail mix.

Bananas are simple to prepare, simply peel and slice into 3-4mm rounds or cut diagonally and spread onto a flat surface

they take on average 6-8 hours but watch out they’re also delicious when semi dehydrated! once finished they won’t snap when bent but will be leathery with no moisture present.

With Pineapple the best specimens are often the ones in the reduced section of your local supermarket. They should be sweet and juicy not pale yellow and hard. Start by topping and tailing the fruit, then trim off the outer skin with a kitchen knife.

Next step cut the Pineapple into quarters from top to bottom and trim off the central core which should be discarded because it’s always hard and overly chewy.

Chop the fruit sections into slices of 3-4mm and lay out on a flat surface to dehydrate

As with all home produced trail mix this stuff is addictive so try a few bits out then lock it away in an airtight container until ready to combine with your other fruits and nuts. Next section is on combinations that work well together.