Here’s How to Easily Chop Dried Fruit Without It Clinging to Your Knife

Dried apricots and plums are my favorite dehydrated fruits to mix into oatmeal or yogurt for a sweet kick. The problem with dried fruit, though, is that when I try to slice it, most of the pieces cling to the knife, leaving behind a sugary residue that can be difficult to clean off. Thankfully, I recently came across a trick that makes chopping sticky dried fruit much easier, and all it takes is a spoonful of sugar!

What causes dried fruit to become sticky?

Fruits like apricots, prunes, and orange peel can become quite sticky after going through the drying or candying process. That’s because as they dry out, their sugars and juice become more concentrated and almost syrupy, making dicing them into small pieces a real task at times. It might seem weird to use sugar on an ingredient that’s already sweet. But rest assured, it’ll be the answer to all of your dried fruit slicing and dicing woes!

How to Easily Chop Dried Fruit

Stacey Ballis, food writer for MyRecipes, says she simply tosses a handful of dried fruit in a bowl with one or two tablespoons of plain white granulated sugar. The sugar acts as a barrier between the sticky flesh of the fruit and your knife, which helps prevent pieces of dried fruit from clumping up and sticking.

Once the fruit is fully coated with sugar, chop it into pieces of your your desired size. Ballis recommends sprinkling a small pinch of sugar on top of the fruit as you’re chopping if it begins to stick slightly. After the dried fruit is chopped, it’s ready to sprinkle over oatmeal or cereal, or to mix into your favorite muffin batter (yum!).

I’m especially looking forward to trying out this hack in the morning when I whip up my go-to yogurt bowl with dried apricots. That way, I can avoid any more annoying knife hassles when it comes to chopping sticky dried fruit!