Breakfast, without the sugar
Most flavoured cereals and yoghurts are sweetened long past the point of tasting of fruit. A handful of dried berries stirred into plain yoghurt or unsweetened oats gets you the same result with the sugar that was in the fruit to begin with, and nothing else.
Add them to overnight oats before they go in the fridge and they soften into something close to fresh by morning.
Baking and desserts
Dried fruit behaves better than fresh in a batter: it does not release water, so it will not sink or make a cake soggy. Toss the berries in a spoonful of the flour before folding them in and they stay suspended through the bake.
Cranberries do well in anything with orange or dark chocolate. Strawberries suit shortbread and scones. Blueberries go into muffins, as they always have.
If you are buying for a business
Bakeries, cafés and dessert makers buy these by weight rather than by pack. Message us with the quantity you need and we will price it properly rather than selling you twenty retail bags.
Keep them sealed and cool. Opened and left out, dried fruit hardens rather than spoils, and a few minutes in warm water brings it back.
