Carrots Are Orange

Call it a supply versus demand thing. I was at the Farmers Market yesterday and the berries for the most part had disappeared…I found one vendor selling strawberries.  The rainy season started early here in Seattle and that does not bode well for strawberries, I was told. The poor little things get beaten up by the rain. So I wasn’t taking any chances and bought several pints. I knew just what to do with those strawberries – fruit leather.

Many recipes for fruit leather exist in the universe. I chose to test drive Catherine McCord’s recipe over at Weelicious. It seemed simple and quick.  Most recipes are pretty simply in terms of ingredients but some recipes require much more time, heating the fruit first to the desired thickness, a lower oven temperature and (gasp) the use of a dehydrator, which I am guessing most of us don’t own in our home (although we’d really like to).  Below is Catherine’s recipe.  We liked it enough with both my husband and little man repeatedly asking for “more”. With that said, I listed a few other recipes that I plan to try for the next batch.

The most important take away from making fruit leather is that TECHNIQUE MATTERS. Before I list the recipe, repeat after me, “I will spread the fruit puree evenly on the baking pan”. Phew. Now that is out of the way, proceed to enjoy yourself. This stuff really is delicious, an easy, portable (for travel and nearby excursions!) snack that your whole family is sure to love. Finally, be patient. This recipe may require trying again and possibly again. Everyone’s fruit is in a different state and ovens are very different. In the end, you will be happy. I promise.

Recipe on Weelicious:

Time required: 3-3.25 hours – 3 hours cooking and the remainder prep

Servings: 8 long strips

Gear:

• small cutting knife
• cutting board
• baking sheet
• Silpat or plastic wrap
• blender
• tablespoon for measuring honey (although I always just count to three for a tablespoon)

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Food:

• 3-4 cups strawberries, washed and de-stemmed (I personally needed more fruit puree so I’d go with 4 cups)
  
• 1 tablespoon honey

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Approach:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees
• Prepare strawberries by washing and de-stemming and place in blender
• Add tablespoon of honey to blender
• Blend strawberries and honey to a puree
• Line your Silpat or plastic wrap on the baking sheet
• Spread puree evenly onto the Silpat about 1/4 or 1/8 inch thick
• Bake for 2-3 hours depending on your oven
• Pull from oven when not sticky to touch (it’ll feel “dry”)
• Let cool at room temperature for several hours until fruit leather softens. The edges may be burnt a bit but they will soften if you give the leather time. This result may also be an indication that the puree was not spread evenly (or simply that you cooked it too long).
  
• Cut with a sharp knife, kitchen scissors or a pizza cutter.
  
• Roll and serve. I hesitate to write “store” here because honestly this stuff doesn’t stick around for long because it is so delicious. However if you are making big batches, freeze away in a freezer bag or appropriate glass container. As with any food, don’t keep it in the freezer longer than 3 months.
  

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Fruit Suggestions:

• Apple – perfect fall flavor. add cinnamon. yum.
• Banana – perfect anytime! add nutmeg, vanilla. yum.
• Blueberry – perfect all by itself.
• Raspberry – perfect all by itself but most like very juicy so focus on thickness if you’re using this berry.
• Pumpkin – perfect for fall. add fall spice of your choose and you have got yourself a warm and fuzzy fall snack. mmm.

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Other fruit leather recipes and ideas to consider:

• Simple Recipes – I love this site. This recipe adds sugar and water, which is necessary for “less juicy” and “less ripe” fruit. Also she cooks the fruit on a much lower temp for a much longer period of time. This recipe is first on my list to try next.
• Not So Humble Pie – This site is beautiful. The photographs make me feel a bit inadequate but also inspired! This writer and food maker heats the fruit, like Simple Recipes, and therefore has some control over the thickness of the puree.  There are some very useful comments from her readers who tried the recipes so be sure to check them out.

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Happy Eating!
Marnie

We used this product in the above recipe: