Honey, I Shrunk the Fruit

Dried fruit. Sounds boring, right? Maybe--but David Swall’s dried fruit is different. Swall lives on a ranch in Tulare. Five years ago he started drying his prunes, removing the pits and slowly dehydrating the fruit in small batches at low temperatures. That way, Swall says, the fruit stays moist and keeps its flavor and outstanding color. Then he started drying other fruits--quality California-grown produce such as peaches, apricots, nectarines and apples. Swall’s so picky that he even makes the wooden trays that hold the fruit.

A 2-pound box (catalogue No. 276) of the dried fruit costs $29.45, including postage and handling. If it seems expensive, keep in mind that a pound of dried fruit is equivalent to 5 to 6 pounds of fresh. And if it still seems too much, give Swall a call and he will send free samples of the fruit to prove it’s worth the price. “I can’t get out and talk to everyone,” he says, “and the pictures in our catalogue don’t do our fruit justice.”

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