Farm Fresh Fruit Leather
Introduction
It happens to the best of us – we wind up with a glut of berries or other fruit and we have no idea what to do with it all! Maybe we grew it, or maybe we had a great haul from a local U-Pick Farm – but either way we can only eat so many fresh berries!
Worse yet, sometimes we waited a bit too long to consume it, and the fruit doesn’t look exactly appetizing anymore to eat it fresh.
If your grandmother ever told you to only can the best fruits – you know jam and preserves are out – but fruit leather may just be the answer you’re looking for.
How To:
Having a large garden and limited time, we often like to juice our berries and then freeze it for future jams, freezer pops, or flavored ice cubes. As quick as that is, we are then left with all this amazing juicer pulp that seems a shame to waste!
To use it up, we love to make fruit leather!
We first take that juicer pulp and add a cup of sugar to it and let it macerate for about 2 hours.
After, the pulp is pushed through a chinois or metal sieve to remove most of the seeds. Taste for sweetness and add additional sugar or agave if desired. Add a little Lemon juice or citric acid for brightness at this time. Add the puree mixture to dehydrator fruit leather trays and dehydrate for 8 – 18 hours at 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The time will vary based mostly on the amount of fruit puree you add to the trays.
The leather is done when it is removed easily from trays and has lost most of its gloss. If the fruit leather does not come off the tray easily, or still seems wet in the middle, put it back in the dehydrator for about 2 hours and check again.
Remove fruit leather from dehydrator forms and place on a cutting board or metal pan. Using a pizza cutter, slice into squares or long rectangles and place on wax paper or parchment paper before rolling up.
You can roll these into fruit roll-ups or fruit by the foot. If the leather is thicker, I like to roll them into flat rectangular envelopes, similar to those from Stretch Island Fruit Company.
Though it may last on the counter for a few days, because fruit leather tends to still have a bit of water in it, it should not be considered shelf stable. We like to store it in the freezer with a desiccant where it will last many months.
Other Notes:
Strawberry seeds tend to be more palatable than blackberry and mulberry seeds. Those doing only strawberry fruit leather may choose to remove strawberry tops before juicing – and then add the remaining mash to the dehydrator.
If you find you don’t have quite enough pulp, apple sauce can be added to create a mixed fruit leather.