Just using some logic - (you could do a test yourself to satisfy your curiosity).... and a little past experience. If you use rehydrated dried fruit that has been soaked in a hot or cold liquid mixture or steamed until softened, there WILL BE more flavor because of the additional liquid that now has picked up the fruit flavor IN the fruit. I dehydrate a lot of foods at home and they need to be rehydrated before I can use them in most recipes. Most commercially dehydrated foods are more moist than home-dehydrated foods and don't always need rehydrated. Rehydration depends on a lot of things: - the type and size of the fruit - what you're using the fruit for (type of recipe) - will hydration affect the end product by contributing to the hydration and is rehydration needed for the correct hydration of the recipe - if not rehydrated, it will absorb hydration and may affect the hydration of the recipe it's used in - how dry is the fruit to begin with If you are using fruit you have dehydrated at home, you may find it almost 'crispy' and must be rehydrated to perform properly in a recipe. Methods Used For Rehydration: Hot Water: 1:1 soak in hot water (1 c. fruit and 1 c. water), but that's not a given, just a general guideline. It may take much less, or more. This can take from 5 minutes to 1 hour depending on the type and size of food. If you add any remaining liquid from soaking the fruit to the recipe, it will also add a lot of flavor. Cold Liquid: Water is the common liquid used for rehydration, but you can also use fruit juice, cider, milk, yogurt/kefir, wine, liquor, even vinaigrette, or a combination of those things. Be sure to refrigerate foods that are being reconstituted in milk or other perishable liquids or if the rehydration time takes longer than 2 hours. When using hot or cold liquid to rehydrate dried foods, you can add most flavorings, spices or herbs which is yet one more benefit to rehydration of dried fruit. If you are adding sugar or a sweetener, do so at the end of the rehydrating time. Steaming: This method helps to prevent the loss of nutrients that occurs when foods are submerged in liquid to rehydrate them. To steam, place the dried food in a steaming basket and place over boiling water until the food softens. Allow 5-30 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces of fruit. A good time to steam dried fruit is to help soften it just before you need to chop or blend it. Standing: If you live where there is a lot of humidity in the air, many dried foods can be left standing uncovered and it will absorb moisture. That's why it's important when dehydrating foods at home to be sure to store it as soon as it has cooled, or it can rehydrate from the humidity which can contribute to spoiling or molding while in room-temperature storage. I also put some dried apples in a plastic bag along with a few drops of water. Seal the bag and refrigerate it for a couple of hours to rehydrate it. Microwaving: Different foods rehydrate at a different ratio of food to liquid when using the microwave. Most rehydrate best if the food is covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and allowed to sit after it's briefly "nuked". This is actually another form of steaming. It doesn't take very long to plump a few raisins/currants/cranberries, etc. Be careful using the microwave - it's easy to overcook the foods and that destroys not only the texture, but the flavor. Depending on how much you are trying to rehydrate in the microwave, stir it once, especially if the pieces are large. -Grainlady

I agree with readinglady regarding some of the alcohol cooking off with a preference in flavor. I’ve done something similar as Jane. I remove the cake from the pan while still just warm. I carefully turn the cake over and poke LOTS of holes with a straw through the bottom almost to, but not through, the top. I slowly pour the glaze over the straw holes until it’s gone. If you like, you can reserve some of the glaze for the top. Flip the cake back over and slowly pour the remaining glaze on top. Depending on the recipe, pouring glaze on top is optional. I’ve found soaking it in from the bottom can be enough for flavor, but having some on top can add more flavor and be visually appealing.

Well, I used "low acid" orange juice and it hardly had ANY flavor. It turned out pretty good but it was weird because the dried pineapple had NO flavor. So what I did was marinate the thighs and breasts in a mix of onion, garlic, chopped dried pineapple and low acid orange juice, with ginger and cumin for spices. Then I sauteed the meat briefly and put it in the dutch oven with the marinade, fruit, carrots and baked it at 400 for 45 min. I put the chicken breast tenders in halfway through the baking time, when I also added some cabbage and sauteed green peppers. When everything was cooked I reduced the pan juices to serve as a sauce. You could not taste any pineapple taste when you ate the dried pineapple. It was sweet, but not very sour. Oh, and my folks had some rum which I added a dash to the marinade. My dad liked it, because he said he likes sweet things. Sadly, the whole meal lacked salt as far as I was concerned. I salted everything but not enough for my taste, it was rather bland. I should have added some cider vinegar to the marinade. I had actual cider with dinner and it was the strongest tasting thing on the menu! Oh and we had sweet corn which I have not had very much of this year. That was delish. I'm editing to add that I still have half a bag of the dried pineapple left so I'm open to suggestions. I thought about getting pineapple juice for the marinade but I hardly ever use fruit juice so I know the little cans of pineapple juice would sit around forever. I thought the pineapple might flavor up the blandish low acid orange juice but that was a bust. I think next time I need to do what Ruthanna said and make a stir fry sauce from the dried pineapple and thicken it with cornstarch and use in a stir fry. This post was edited by lpinkmountain on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 22:15

The iced fruitcake looks like something I might have to try this year. As long as it's dark, full of fruit & nuts with not much cake, how can it be anything but delicious? This is my favorite recipe for a dark fruitcake. Over the years, I've substituted all kinds of fruits & nuts & it always turn out great. Maybe the rum helps! RUM CROCK FRUITCAKE Makes 1 Bundt (+ 1 mini loaf pan) or 2 3x5x9 loaf cakes 1 lb dried currants 1 lb dark raisins ½ lb golden raisins ½ lb citron or dried fruit 1 C filberts or almonds or figs ½ lb chopped dates (or pecan halves) 1 C dried or candied cherries (dried cranberries work just as well) ½ C candied citrus peel 3 C (a fifth) of Dark Rum (cheap is okay, but it needs to be dark) ---------------------------- ½ lb sweet butter, softened 2 C packed dark brown sugar 5 large eggs 2 C flour 2 t. baking powder --------------------------- Grind enough whole spices to make these quantities, mix & set aside: 1 t. ground cloves 1 t. ground cinnamon ½ t. ground nutmeg 1 t. ground allspice ½ t. ground mace Mix all the fruits & nuts together in a crock or a ceramic or glass bowl. Stir in the rum (adding more, if needed, to cover), & let stand, loosely covered, in a cool place for at least 3 weeks. (A day or 2 has always been okay for me.) When you are ready to prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 275 F. & place a large shallow pan of water on a lower rack. Prepare pans by greasing, lining with brown paper or parchment, & greasing lightly again. Drain the contents of the rum crock (discard the rum or use in another batch of marinade if making additional fruitcakes) & set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy & stir in eggs, one at a time, blending well. Sift together the flour, baking powder & spices. Sift half of the flour into the butter mixture, mixing well. Gradually add the fruits/nuts, alternating with the remaining flour mixture & blending thoroughly. Put batter into pans & bake for about 2 ½ hours (more for a bundt pan) or until a cake tester comes out clean & the edges shrink from the pan. Cover the cake lightly with pieces of foil if it browns too quickly (usually after 1 ½ hours). Remove the cake & cool in pan for about 1 hour. Turn onto a cake rack & remove the paper. When the cake has cooled, wrap in foil & store in an airtight container to age for at least 1 month before serving. (Its also excellent after 1 week of aging as DH is too impatient to wait longer).