The Love for Sun-Dried Mango

Love for mangoes is timeless. Mango is the favorite fruit in any Tropical Asian household. Mango is consumed in various ways, but one of the staples is dried mango pickle. Sun-dried mango is one of the most beloved among all dried fruits. However, it must not be consumed excessively as it is high in calories. Sun-dried mango is also rich in various nutrients, including Vitamin A, which regulates calcium, iron, and metabolism. When the king of fruits is available in plenty during the summer season, why not try something different and tasty instead of the dull and conventional salad or ice cream? So, if you have sun-dried mango or dried mango strips in your mind, go ahead and read one, for here you will find different sumptuous ways of preparing this perfect snack for all your moods.

Also read: 10 Benefits Of Mango Leaves You Didn’t Know

How To Make Dried Mango?

At the time of sun drying, the mangoes are rubbed with some salt. Originally, this food item is prepared by drying in the sun in thin wooden planks by keeping the mangoes under the sun. Sugar and other sweeteners are added to improve the taste of the dried mangoes. Even though industrial machinery is in ample use, mangoes are still dried in most households in this basic way.

How To Dry Mango?

Dried mangoes can be prepared in a few very basic steps. Dried mango recipe preparation steps include:

• Cut the mangoes into thin pieces in the same sizes.
• Spread them on the baking sheets.
• The oven needs to be set at the lowest temperature, such as 1700F.
• Bake the mangoes for an average time of 3-4 hours. The pieces need flipping every 30-60 minutes.
• When the pieces acquire a leathery feel, your dried mangoes are ready.

How To Make Sun Dry Mangoes?

This is only possible in places where the outside temperature is scathingly high, like the Tropical countries. It can be prepared in a few steps. Things required are:

• Two stainless glass dinnerware or baking trays
• Two strainers or mesh clothes to cover the plates
• Some butter
• A mixer-grinder
• Peeler
• Knife

Next, the steps are easy:

• The mangoes need peeling. So, peel them.
• Slice them into tinier pieces.
• Put the sliced mangoes in the mixer grinder or juicer for pulp extraction.
• Take a small piece of clean cloth.
• Add a little butter into a smaller sized bowl.
• Dip the cloth in the butter and rub onto the plate for greasing it.
• Then pour the pulp onto the tray by using a kitchen spatula.
• Next, the dried leather needs to be extracted by using a knife and peeling from corners.

Dehydrating mango is also very easy. How to dehydrate mangoes? Here are the steps:

• Avoid dehydrating unripened or too soft mangoes.
• The fruit needs some washing and peeling, and the skin needs complete removal.
• The fruit must then be cut lengthwise into slices, which are ¼ inch thick.
• Place the trays in the dehydrator.
• Arrange the cut fruits in such a way that lies in a flat position.
• Clumping slices together might make the process of dehydration longer.
• The dehydrator needs to be set at 135 degrees, and the dehydration process needs to last for nearly 12 hours.

The normally asked question is, how long to dehydrate mango? Well, the dehydration process could last up to 12 hours.

Health Benefits

Dry mango has many health benefits. Sun-dried mangoes have a high content of dietary fiber that aids the process of digestion. Apart from this, other health benefits include:

• Battling free radicals: Dried mango slices contain phenols like quercetin, astragalin, gallic acid, methyl gallate, fisetin, and isoquercitrin. These elements have cancer prevention properties. Dry mango slices are also high in Vitamin C, preventing any form of radical damage, thereby lowering cancer risks.

• Healthy skin: Dried mango strips contain Vitamin A, beta-carotene, and Vitamin C, which relieve skin conditions like acne and promote radiating skin. Also, Vitamin C facilitates collagen production along with removing the chances of dry and wrinkled skin.

• Weight loss: Dry mango has a high soluble fiber content that lowers the body’s chances of glucose absorption and promotes excess glucose absorption as fuel. It facilitates metabolism, along with weight loss.

• Preventing heart ailments: Sun-dried mango helps to lower cholesterol levels. Potassium helps balance body fluid, relax the blood vessel walls, and prevent high blood pressure or heart rate.

• Women’s health: Dried mangoes nutrients have a rich content of iron and calcium. Iron is vital for DNA formation and also hemoglobin. Iron deficiency reduces the number of red blood cells in the body, triggering anemia that induces tiredness, breath shortness, pale complexion, heart palpitation, and lethargy. As women considerably lose iron during early pregnancy months; therefore, consuming dried mangoes can increase the body’s iron and calcium content.

Dried Mango Recipe

• Dried mango could be consumed on their own.
• It can be added to cereals or salads or as ice cream topping.
• It can be added to trail mixes and granola for a healthy yet tasty breakfast.
• Dried mangoes can be added to curries, cereals, cakes, muesli or granola, chutneys.
• Dried mangoes can be rehydrated and refrigerated with lime juice, salt, tomatoes, and chopped onions for nearly two hours. It can then be served with grilled chicken or pork.
• Want to have some dried mango pilaf? Super easy. Just add the dried mango slices to rice, salt, water, onion, and broth in a saucepan and cook it. Then it can be tossed with oil, basil, peppercorns, and cumin in a frying pan.

Therefore, DIY dried mango is super easy, fun, and very interesting for satiating your palate. It can be sun-dried mango, or the other alternative is drying mango in a dehydrator.

DIY Dried Mango

In DIY, the mango needs to be peeled into thin slices and baked in a preheated oven for around 2-3 hours, flipped over into the other side every 30 mins until the entire thing becomes dry. It must not be cooked for a prolonged period; otherwise, we can have mango chips. Given that this snack is free of preservatives, it is important to be consumed within 4-5 days.

Dehydrated Mango Recipe

Dehydrated Tajin Mangoes are 100% natural, tart, spicy and sweet. These are a healthy snack that requires no additional sugar. This delicious snack requires only two ingredients.

Breaking down the mangoes:

• Peel the fresh mangoes
• The plump cheeks need to be sliced away from the pit
• Cut the remnant of the fruit from the pit.
• Cut the mango into small and even strips.

Combining with tajin:

• Sprinkle the Tajin over the mangoes.
• Use hands to mix the tajin fairly.

Placing the mangoes onto the dehydrator trays:

• The mango slices need to be evenly placed on the dehydrator trays in single layers.
• Cooking tajin mangoes:
• The dehydrator trays need to be covered and left to cook at a temperature of 135o for about 8-10 hours.
• ü The cooking time is dependent on the humidity level, temperature, and mango thickness.

Storage

Next comes the question of storing dehydrated mangoes. The dried mango slices need to be stored only when they have completely cooled down. They need to be stored in a dark, dry, and cool place for preservation for a longer time as exposure to the sun can destroy it, and in that case, the consumption needs to take place much faster.

The mango dehydrator needs to be cleaned appropriately post this cooking is done before it is stored away in a proper place. Therefore, it can be seen that a variety of dried mango recipes can be prepared either by making the mangoes sun-dried mangoes or using the dehydrator for drying the mangoes. The dehydrated mango recipe is super easy and super fun to make.

Conclusion

It is a very luscious snack option. Has your mouth started watering already? It is also a healthy snack that you can eat a lot during one of those long night study soirees or when you are hungry just before lunch and want to binge on something. You will not have to count the calories or feel guilty as so often happens with that gourmet ice-cream tub, which you just savored or that perfectly toasted caramelized marshmallows. It is a guilty and gluten-free exotic snack.

The next time you sit down for a night movie or attend a boring and long conference call at the office. Replace those not so good for the love handled chocolates and chips and go for healthier dried mango slices or chips. Forget the health quotient. Think of the taste. Oh, God, isn’t your mouth watering already?