Inulin infused fruit and method of preparation

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to dried food product infused with inulin characterized by high inulin levels and to methods of their preparation and use.
Each of the product components as well as product use and attributes and methods of their preparation are described in detail below.
Throughout the specification and claims, percentagages are by weight and temperatures in degrees Centigrade unless otherwise indicated.
Each of the referenced patents and applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
The present invention provides dried food products infused with inulin or other non-digestible short chain carbohydrates with a low molecular weight and a high water-binding capacity.
The dried products are characterized by a water activity value ranging from about 0.
15 to 0.
75, preferably about 0.
4 to about 0.
55, in certain embodiments more preferably about 0.
45 to about 0.
55.
The dried food products can be selected from the group consisting of fruits, garden vegetables, meats, and mixtures thereof.
The present invention finds particularly suitability for use in the provision of dried fruit products especially dried whole fruit pieces or slices of whole pieces.
While any fruit can be employed, conveniently the fruit pieces can be of apple, apricots, avocado, banana, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, dates, kiwi, mango, pineapple, raisins, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, and mixtures thereof.
Preferred for use herein are fruit selected from the group consisting of apple, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, raisins, raspberries, strawberries, and mixtures thereof.
Preferred whole fruit pieces include apples, blueberries, cherries, raisins, cranberries raspberries, and mixtures thereof