Making Raisins, Craisins, and Other Similar Raisin-like Treats at Home

Growing food at home is highly rewarding and unbelievably empowering. Many folks begin and end this journey with the summer vegetable garden, but there are lots of other ways to produce food in your yard.

Edible landscaping and permaculture can fill our world, especially an urban and suburban world. Yards can be cultivated with food forests full of fruit and nut trees, with flower beds teeming with edible blooms, and with berry canes splaying to make productive hedges. Vines would be climbing up porch posts. Food could be everywhere.

And, with a world like that, we could easily imagine making our own raisins, “craisins”, and whatever else fits into such a dried fruit category. Blueberries, elderberries, and currants all make similar raisin-like delights to put in our cookies, oatmeal, muffins, and various other treats. Or, we could eat them as is.

Growing the Right Plants

Of course, raisins come from grapes, so it’ll help to stick a grapevine or few around the house or even on the apartment balcony. There are grape vines hardy enough to grow successfully anywhere in the continental US.

Having a healthy collection of berries to dry like raisins is also a great idea. Blueberries are delicious fresh, but a few bushes can provide enough to require preserving some. Cranberries are a great option for those in colder, moister climates. Elderberries are awesome trees/shrubs that grow and produce very quickly. They love water, too.

Currants are another great choice, both red and black. They make wonderful hedges and are best dehydrated.  Cherries are fantastic dried, so a cherry tree could be a good addition. Plums make giant “raisins” called prunes.

Dehydrating for safe-keeping

Each fruit or berry will require alterations in time and temperature to go from fresh fruit to raisin-like morsel, but the basic premise is the same for all: Low heat and dry air for an extended amount of time.

Some homesteaders keep things rustic and use the sun for drying their grapes and whatnot. This requires nothing more than a cookie sheet and a cooling rack. Spread the fruit on the racks, cover them with a thin cloth, and stick them out in the sun on hot, dry days. This will take about five days.

They can also be dried in the oven. Put the oven on a low temperature, crack the door open, and allow them to dry for several hours. For keen raisin enthusiasts, a quality dehydrator isn’t so expensive, and it can be used to make raisins, fruit leather, dried herbs, dehydrated vegetables, and more.  A dehydrator will need to run for about 24 hours.

It’s also possible to make a solar dehydrator that works faster than just the sun but doesn’t require electricity like store-bought dehydrators.

Using Your “Raisins”

Raisins, “craisins”, prunes, dried blueberries, currants, sultanas (dried white grapes), elderberries, and dehydrated cherries are all fantastic fodder on the pantry shelf. Plus, they last for a long time without spoiling, so they’ll be waiting for the right recipe.

Here are some classics:

• Oatmeal & oatmeal cookies
• Sticky cinnamon rolls & cinnamon raisin bread
• Carrot cake & banana bread
• Trail mix
• The classic “ants on a log”: celery, peanut butter, “raisin” of your choice

And, here are some less conventional twists, including savory dishes:

• Chickpea peanut stew with apricot & raisins
• Carrot raisin soup
• Toasted with some coconut and put on vegetable curry
• Chutney (Mango is a classic; tomato is like fancy ketchup.)
• Salads

Make Your Raisins

In short, don’t let those grow-your-own-food aspirations stop at the veggie patch. Fruit can be a huge part of home food production, and with many fruits, there is the opportunity to dehydrate them for later use. That means you can still be eating from the garden in the depths of winter!

Related Content:

• TikTok Trends: Can Raisins Give You Glowing Skin? [Video]
• 10 Vegan Cinnamon Raisin Recipes
• How to Make a Healthy Vegan Sorbet From Frozen Grapes [Video]
• Making Homemade Wine without Grapes

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade repeatedly.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!