Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. Small fruit that has been preserved by drying.
WordNet
n. fruit preserved by drying
Wikipedia
Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized because of its sweet taste, nutritive value, and long shelf life.
Today, dried fruit consumption is widespread. Nearly half of the dried fruits sold are raisins, followed by dates, prunes, figs, apricots, peaches, apples and pears. These are referred to as "conventional" or "traditional" dried fruits: fruits that have been dried in the sun or in heated wind tunnel dryers. Many fruits such as cranberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries and mango are infused with a sweetener (e.g. sucrose syrup) prior to drying. Some products sold as dried fruit, like papaya, kiwi fruit and pineapple are most often candied fruit.
Dried fruits retain most of the nutritional value of fresh fruits. The specific nutrient content of the different dried fruits reflects their fresh counterpart and the processing method.
Usage examples of "dried fruit".
It is considered that the laxative property resides in the saccharine juice of the fresh fruit and in the dried fruit is probably due to the indigestible seeds and skin.
There's not even the Kyphran dried fruit, and there's always dried fruit.
But I can set out some bread, and cheese, and there's a little dried fruit.
He carried what he'd described as a light pack: it nonetheless weighed at least fifty pounds, mostly of grain and dried fruit.
Magda was shivering, and halfway down the slope they stopped, sheltering behind one of the rock buttresses to dig out the emergency rations from their pockets and suck on honey-soaked dried fruit.
Even dried fruit is hard to come by, and spice shipments are almost nonexistent.
My saddlebags had a lot more dried fruit than on the last trip-a lot more food, and no tools.
The river water was cold, cold enough both in drinking and in washing the grime from my face to encourage my appetite, and to open some trail bread and dried fruit from two packages near the top of the saddlebags provided by Brettel.
In the second basket were waxed packets of things-several of hard white cheese, what looked to be travel bread, and packages of dried fruit wrapped in waxed linen.
They would not, they said, give anythingnot one stones weight of grain or handbasket of dried fruit.
He plunged again into the familiar problems: how large to make the jacks, how many sacks of grain and dried fruit did they have and how long it would last, where the nearest sources of supply were.
We ended making a bargain, and I took enough dried meat, roadbread, and dried fruit away to last me for several days, as well as a leather-covered flask full of beer.
Oh, children, sometimes, a little dried fruit more than our share.