Homemade Fruit Leather

 

I have been playing with my new toy this week. My new dehydrator finally arrived and I don’t think it has been switched off yet. We all love the food it creates and I just cant make it quick enough to keep the jars full. A favourite for my two girls are homemade fruit leathers. I have never bought the store ones for them as I think they are just sugar and preservatives, but they love dried fruit and they love a novelty so I gave these a go.

The only ingredients are pure fruit and vegetables. Nothing else. This is what I love about them. I have used very fresh ingredients, some not-so-fresh end of the week ones as well as some tinned fruit to speed up the process. Some people add sugar and even lemon juice but I find that it’s not necessary and sort of defeats the purpose of having a healthy snack. But experiment and find what suits your taste.

To make your own delicious homemade fruit leather simply choose a fruit, vegetable or combination of the two. Cook it until it is soft, blend it up into a smooth puree, spread it onto your sheet (paraflex or baking paper or something similar to these) and slowly dry. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can try and do it in your oven but I found even the lowest setting on my oven was too hot and I ended up with a sheet of crispy fruit chips instead.

Once they are dried I just roll the sheet and cut the roll with scissors so that I have individual serves ready to go. If your leather is a bit sticky you can lay your sheet on some baking paper before you roll it so it doesn’t stick together. Stored in an airtight container they stay fresh for weeks, apparently. I wouldn’t know first hand because mine never last this long. I have also been told that you can freeze them but again I have ever found this necessary for myself.

Our favourite flavours over the last couple of weeks have been:

• Mango
• Strawberry & Apple
• Apple
• Beetroot & Apple

I am looking forward to trying out some new flavours, such as:

• Raspberry, Apple & Vanilla
• Pear & Cinnamon
• Apricots
• Banana & Nutella
• Pumpkin & Spices

The possibilities are endless. Have you got a new flavour you want to share?