question about Dried Figs

[friend2parrots]

i give my birds dried figs to eat. I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out whats the best way to store organic, raw, unsulphured dried figs to keep them fresh.

there are no storage guidelines on the bag. diff websites have diff storage rec's. i'm not sure what to go by.

i'm not sure if I should put them in the fridge, because i've often noticed moisture on my tomatoes, etc, when i pull them out of the fridge. maybe its condensation that shows up after ive taken it out, but i'm wondering if the inside of a fridge has moisture that can get to the dried fruit? also, i'm not sure if i should freeze them because i've often found ice crystals inside even my most tightly sealed freezer containers/bags. and i'm not sure if i should keep them at room temperature....

btw - i try to stay clear of sulphured fruits (that use sulfur dioxide or other sulfite as a preservative) because i've heard that sulfites are not healthy, for either people and animals, and can cause health problems.

thanks!

[Eurycerus]

Are ice crystals bad?

[friend2parrots]

I'm not sure, actually ---

[marie83]

Freezing them should be ok, it might ruin the eating quality with the ice crystals form but there shouldn't be any safety risks as long as you treat them as fresh food when thawed.

[rebcart]

In general, yes, moisture will come from condensation due to fluctuating temperatures (and also whatever else you have in your fridge that is moist will make the inside of the fridge humid).

The ice crystals won't be a worry on their own, but they may cause issues if they're repeatedly melting and re-freezing - eventually, very slowly, bacteria or fungus may grow during the melted timeframes. Very slowly. We're talking maybe a year or more here. If they're in the fridge the whole time with moisture on, the growth will be faster.

Your best bet would be to put the figs in a ziplock bag and add in with them one of those little silica "do not eat" moisture absorbing sachets. You should be able to just buy them, but if you can't find them anywhere, buy a product that has it included (such as dried mushrooms from the asian grocer) and just transfer to the figs. That will help them last longer in either fridge or freezer. If moisture starts forming after a while, throw the sachet into a 100C oven for an hour or two - it'll get the moisture out of the sachet and it should be good to go again.

[GreenWing]

Hi friend2parrots, I harvest, dry, and store herbs for my apothecary, and I use these herbs in my soaps so I completely understand where you're coming from.

Plastic zip bags are okay short term but in my experience the best way to store dried items -- especially long term -- is in sealable glass jars that are stored in a cool, dry, dark place.

See this website for a little more info.

'Hope that helps

[friend2parrots]

Thank you everyone for your input into this mysterious issue thats had me puzzled forever!
i appreciate it!

[spiral71]

i was reading that figs are part of the diet of wild abbisinan lovebirds on parrotfeather.com

[friend2parrots]

i was reading that figs are part of the diet of wild abbisinan lovebirds on parrotfeather.com

thats cool, spiral! thanks for sharing that website parrotfeather.com - i just checked it out and it has a lot of information.

yeah, figs are part of the Green Cheek Conure's natural diet in South America too (where they come from originally). My Bourke loves them too, although I have yet to discover whether the Bourkes of Australia eat them as part of their natural diet.

[spiral71]

glad you like the website , i have more or less only just figured out what my parrots natural diet would be because i read that they are canopy feeaders which i had not been certain of before so that means that they can tollerate a richer diet than astrailian species.

i new that they ate grain and fruits from famers crops due to deforestation but i like to know what they fist evolved to eat before having to adapt themselves to other things.