Peaches, dried (raw?, organic?)

Dried peach ( Prunus persica L. Batsch) is a healthy, sweet snack, especially in organic quality. Only gently dried and raw.

Use in the kitchen

Dried peaches have an orange-yellow or brown-orange color. Unsulphured peaches take on a brownish color after drying. With the use of sulphur dioxide, the bright orange-yellow color of the fruit flesh is largely retained. However, sulphur is not absolutely necessary for the taste and shelf life.

Dried peaches should not be confused with dried apricots, which look similar but are smaller. The drying process concentrates the aromatic substances, giving them a more intense taste than fresh peaches.

Dried peaches taste delicious as a snack between meals or together with walnuts, macadamia nuts or almonds. Due to the high sugar content, you should only eat small portions.

Dried fruit such as dried organic peaches are ideal for refining breakfast, e.g. in porridge or muesli ( pea muesli). They are also used in desserts and baked goods such as fruit bread, biscuits, muffins or cakes. Like dried dates, figs or plums, they are used as a sweetener in sugar-free desserts, e.g. in a carrot cake with a walnut base. They also give savoury dishes such as salads, curries or oriental grain and rice dishes a sweet, fruity flavour.

Making your own dried peaches

Dried peaches are easy to make yourself. Ripe organic peaches of different varieties are suitable for this. The harder (lower water content) and tastier the variety, the better they are suited to drying.

After washing, halve the peaches, remove the stones and cut the flesh into thin slices. You should avoid peeling the peaches, as they contain important secondary plant substances. The prepared peach slices can be sprinkled with lemon juice (reduces browning).

For raw peaches, it is best to use a dehydrator (food dehydrator) and set the temperature below 42 °C. Dehydrators usually have their own instructions (time and temperature) for each fruit. They are also very energy efficient, as fruits need many hours to dry. Drying can take 8 to 12 hours, depending on the water content of the peaches. The peaches are ready when they feel leathery and are no longer sticky.

Alternatively, you can use the oven with the convection function. To do this, place the peaches on a baking tray lined with baking paper. It is more energy efficient to put several trays in the oven at once. When drying in the oven, it is necessary to leave a small gap open so that the moisture can escape. You will often find instructions with drying temperatures of 70 °C. If you want to dry as gently as possible, we recommend temperatures of 40-50 °C. If you cannot regulate the oven temperature precisely below 50 °C, it is advisable to set the oven to the lowest setting (mostly starts below 50 °C, but without a display). Heat also escapes through the open gap and you can assume that the temperature will reduce somewhat as a result.

Vegan recipe for energy balls with dried peaches

Ingredients (for 4 people): 80 g dried peaches, 6 tbsp drinking water, 1 tbsp almond butter (unsweetened), 50 g walnuts, 80 g oat flakes.

Preparation: Finely puree the dried peaches, water and almond paste in a blender. Put the walnuts in a bag and crush them with a hard object (e.g. rolling pin) or chop them finely with a knife. Mix the peach paste with the walnuts and oat flakes well in a bowl. Form 16 balls from the mixture. They will keep in the fridge for around a week if they are hermetically sealed.

Vegan recipes with dried peaches can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Purchasing - Storage

Dried peaches are not part of the standard range of large retailers such as Coop, Migros, Denner, Volg, Spar, Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Hofer and Billa. In health food stores, delicatessens, organic shops or organic supermarkets ( Denn's Biomarkt and Alnatura) Dried peaches are occasionally available. The easiest way to purchase them is through specialised online shops that specialise in the sale of dried fruit and nuts.

For health reasons, you should prefer unsulfured, dried peaches without sugar (unsweetened). Organic dried fruit also contains fewer pesticides.

High temperatures are often used for industrial drying. Dried peaches in raw food quality must therefore be specially labelled. However, the term "raw food" is not regulated by law, which is why there are no state certification bodies for it - unlike organic production. You have to be careful with the terms "raw" or "sun-dried" because producers do not always take the temperature restrictions (approx. 42 to 45 °C for "real" raw food) seriously. Dried peaches in raw food quality can also be made yourself from organic peaches.

The availability of dried peaches varies depending on the size of the store, catchment area, etc. Our recorded food prices for the DA-CH countries can be found above under the ingredient image - and by clicking on them you can see their development at various suppliers.

Storage tips

Dried peaches can be kept for several months. Screw-top jars, cans or other sealable containers are suitable for storing dried peaches. In any case, they should be stored in a dark, cool and airtight place.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories

Fresh peaches consist of 89% water and are one of the low-calorie fruits with around 39 kcal. In dried form, the calorie count increases to 239 kcal/100g. The residual moisture is around 32%. ¹

Dried peaches have 61 g/100g of carbohydrates and are rich infiber with 8.2 g/100g. They are almost fat-free (0.76 g/100g) and contain little protein (3.6 g/100g). However, 100 g of dried peaches (organic?) contain around 42 g of sugar, ¹ which is why they should only be consumed in small quantities (20-30 g). ¹²

Like other dried fruits, dried peaches also contain large amounts of potassium. The content of 996 mg/100g is high compared to dried apple (450 mg/100g) or dried pear (533 mg/100g). Even more potassium than dried peaches is contained indried bananas (1183 mg/100g), dried apricots (1162 mg) and dried goji berries (1104 mg/100g). ¹

Peaches (dried) contain 4.1 mg/100g of iron, which is quite high for dried fruit. Dried goji berries (6.8 mg/100g), dried porcini mushrooms (8.4 mg) and dried tomatoes (9.1 mg) contain even more iron. Herbs and spices have particularly high iron contents, but you only eat small portions of them. Good sources of iron that you can eat in large quantities are kañiwa (13 mg/100g), raw morels (12 mg) and wheat bran (11 mg). ¹

Niacin (ex vitamin B₃) is present in dried peaches at 4.4 mg/100g (27% of the daily requirement), which is comparable to pine nuts. Peanuts have very high values.

Furthermore, vitamin K, phosphorus, manganese and riboflavin (vitamin B₂) are also present.

You can find the complete ingredients of dried peaches, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Health Effects

Dried fruits are good for the digestive tract due to their high fiber content and keep you full longer than other snacks.

Secondary plant substances

Many of the health effects of dried peaches can be attributed to the secondary plant substances they contain. Our article on secondary plant substances provides an overview of the classification of substance groups, their occurrence in foods and possible effects on humans. Peach (dried) contains the following secondary plant substances: ^7,8,11

• Isoprenoids: Carotenoids : Carotene (beta-carotene), xanthophylls (beta-cryptoxanthin)
• Polyphenols: Phenolic acids: hydroxycinnamic acid (chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid); flavonoids: flavonols (quercetin, kaempferol, rutin), flavanols (catechin), anthocyanidins (procyanidin)

The content of secondary plant substances depends on the peach variety, rootstock, climate, agronomic practices and degree of ripeness at harvest. ⁸ In dried peaches, the drying method also has a very large influence on the content of secondary plant substances. A study from Pakistan showed that the total content of phenolic compounds and flavonoids was higher in solar-dried peaches (60 °C) than in oven-dried peaches (60 °C). Peaches that were left to dry in the sun showed the lowest content. ¹¹ Another study, however, showed that the total content of phenolic compounds was higher when dried with a convective hot air drying system than in solar-dried peaches (more under Industrial Production). ⁷

Larger amounts of chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid are detectable. ⁷ Both are specific phenolic acid components of peaches and plums and have, among other things, an anti-cancer effect against breast cancer cells. ⁸ Small amounts of procyanidin, catechin, quercetin, kaempferol and isochamnetin were also detected. ⁷

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects

Allergic reactions to peaches (nectarines) are more common than you might think. A European study from 2014 to evaluate allergen-specific sensitization rates in fruit showed that peaches were the most common trigger of sensitization. ⁵ Peaches contain different allergens that are found in both the peel and the flesh. Not all of them can be destroyed by heat, which is why sensitive people can also react allergically to dried peaches. ^5,6

Dried peaches are available in sulphurised and unsulphurised forms. In sensitive people, the consumption of sulphurised products can lead to severe intolerance reactions, eg for asthmatics and allergy sufferers. ⁴ Unsulphurised peaches are therefore preferable and also safer for asthmatics and allergy sufferers.

Ecological footprint - animal welfare

The ecological footprint of dried peaches depends on various aspects, including the cultivation method (conventional/organic), seasonality, the country of origin and the corresponding transport of the fresh peaches, as well as the drying method and packaging. By developing new drying systems, attempts are being made to reduce energy requirements (see Industrial production).

Fresh peaches have a CO ₂ footprint of 0.66 kg CO ₂ eq/kg. Since we could not find any concrete figures for dried peaches, we show the CO ₂ footprint of apricots (0.79 kg CO ₂ eq/kg) and of dried apricots : 2.24 kg CO ₂ eq/kg. ¹³

Peach cultivation in Europe takes place mainly in Spain and Italy. ² Both countries require artificial irrigation to produce economically relevant quantities of peaches. The water consumption per 1 kg of fresh peaches is an average of 922 litres worldwide. ¹⁰

For detailed explanations of various sustainability indicators (such as ecological footprint, _CO2 footprint, water footprint), see our article: What does the ecological footprint mean?

Worldwide occurrence - cultivation

The peach tree originally comes from China, where it has been cultivated since around 3000 BC (domestication center). In the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, peach trees were introduced to Iran, then to the Mediterranean region, including Italy and France. Starting with European varieties, the Spanish brought peaches to Central America in the 16th century, from where peach trees spread north. A second introduction came from China in the mid-19th century. Wild relatives of peaches can still be found in China today. ³

Peaches are a popular fruit. Around 26.35 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2022. The main growing area is China with 16.8 million tonnes of peaches (2022). Other major producers are Spain (2021: 1.19 million tonnes), Italy (2021: 996,860 tonnes, 2022: 1.2 million tonnes) and Turkey (2022: 1 million tonnes). ²

Information on cultivation and harvesting can be found under the ingredient Peach, raw (organic?).

Industrial production

In the industrial production of dried fruit, convective hot air drying systems are often used. However, these require a lot of energy (between 12% and 25% of the total energy used in industrial processing). ⁷ Therefore, alternative drying methods such as heat pump drying systems or solar drying systems, which require less energy, are also used. ^7,9

Solar thermal drying could be an alternative to improve the efficiency of heat and mass transfer and reduce costs during the process. In addition, this type of preservation is an environmentally friendly alternative as it uses the free and clean energy of the sun. Solar drying of peaches shows advantages in terms of drying speed, color and texture. However, it was found that the content of phenolic compounds decreased more with solar drying than with a hot air drying system and the solar-dried peaches had the lowest concentrations of chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid. The strong decrease in secondary plant substances is probably due to the effect of UV rays. The use of UV filters could help to protect the health-promoting bioactive compounds. ⁷

To shorten the drying time and reduce energy consumption, the fruit is treated before drying. Osmotic dehydration is popular because it is simple and inexpensive. In fruit, sugars (e.g. sucrose, fructose, glucose) are the most popular osmotic agents. This involves removing some of the water contained in the fruit before the drying process. These pretreatments can affect the nutrient composition. Studies show that the fruit contained higher levels of carotenoids if they were not pretreated before drying. ⁹ This is another reason (besides the higher sugar content) to prefer unsweetened organic dried peaches.

Further information

The peach tree ( Prunus persica L. Batsch) is one of the most important species of the genus Prunus and belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae). The genus Prunus also includes apricot ( P. armeniaca), plum ( P. domestica), blackthorn ( P. spinosa), sour cherry ( P. cerasus), cherry ( P. avium) and almond ( P. dulcis).

Alternative names

Common names for peaches are Plüschprumm and Bügnole. The stone fruit is also known under different varieties, e.g. nectarine, nectavigne, flat peach, donut peach, vineyard peach or vineyard peach.

In English, the peach is called peach. Dried peaches are dried peaches.