"Dried fruit is nature's candy!"

 When I was a little girl, I'll admit I was disappointed when my grandmother said those words to me. I wanted c-a-n-d-y. Something full of sugar and coated with chocolate like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. She handed me a box of plain ol' raisins instead.

Turns out she was right, of course.  

Now I crave fruit straight from my dehydrator, including wacky stuff like  Watermelon Jerky. 

I spotted this cute produce bin at Jay's Farmstand in Shelton, Washington and had to snap a quick picture. 

I hope this photo brings back naturally-sweet memories for you as well. Happy snacking!

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Using dried fruit to decorate for the holidays

Updated on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 9:36AM by Brook Hurst Stephens

If you do a fair amount of preserving, like I do, it means there is often a surplus of fruit in the house. Sometimes it's a bowl of Quince, left out to ripen, or a bag of apples, being kept in the produce bin in the fridge to keep them fresher. I really like the look of having fruit around main living areas of the house, and it inspires me to create, too.

I recently did a post on Sugared Fruit, and in the last couple months have posted photos of bowls of Seckel Pears and Meyer Lemons that I was using for decorating purposes.

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