By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bluffton Farmers Market is the place to be on Saturday mornings in town. According to the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, our town "boasts the best farmers market in northwest Ohio."

In celebration of our small but mighty farmers market, the Icon will be featuring a market vendor each week over the course of the summer.

This week's feature vendor is Granny's Treats.  

Margi Habegger is the smile behind Granny's Treats.

Granny's Treats offers dehydrated fruit as a natural, healthy snack. You can choose from apples, bananas, peaches, nectarines, pineapple, mango, kiwi, plums, papaya, pears, strawberries, lemon, limes and oranges.

Her apples come in a variety of sizes and flavors: dried apple slices, apple strings (spiralized and dried) or cinnamon apples. She also has dehydrated raspberries, tucked into Davy Crockett bars, a kind of chocolate and granola snack.

This is her first year selling at the farmers market.

"I wanted to do something healthier for us and the grandkids." said Habegger. She began dehydrating fruit for herself and the grandkids as a way to "bring some of the past back" and get away from everything pre-packaged, with sugar and chemicals.

Wherever possible, Habegger sources her fruit locally, including growing her own and buying Ohio peaches. 

There is no sugar or preservatives added in her products (except the Davy Crockett bars have sugar). Granny's Treats will last up to six months.

Dehydrating fruit maintains the nutrients and "natural goodness," said Habegger. To dehydrate fruit, you have to bake it in an oven or dehydrator, at a very low temperature. One batch of apples spiralized takes three hours to fully dehydrate, but juicier fruit, such as a pineapple, takes up to 12 hours.

Because her products are all-natural, Habegger said eating her products is more satisfying, because it's relying on the natural sweetness instead of sugar.

Her bestsellers are apple, mango and pineapple. You can choose individual or family-sized bags. 

Granny's Treats can be used to flavor water or other beverages. She recommends using the apple strings as a crispy topper on salads. Or add your choice of fruit to a bowl of oatmeal.

If you're in any doubt of the tastiness of Habegger's treats, then stop for a sample. She offers free samples of all her dried fruits. 

In the future, she hopes to offer dehydrated vegetables, as well as a gluten-free version of her Davy Crockett bars.

Granny's Treats is based off Hancock Co. Rd. 16 (County Line Rd), Bluffton. If you would like to make a special order, or purchase dried fruit once the market is finished for the season, email Margi at [email protected].

About the Bluffton Farmer’s Market
This story is part of a summer series on Bluffton Farmers Market vendors. The market is open each Saturday through the end of October from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Citizens National Bank parking lot, 102 S. Main St. For vendor information, contact Greg Probst, market director, at [email protected].