Adventure in fruit leather.

Fruit roll ups are a favorite with my kids.  They love eating them, but I hate the processed, added sugar, garbage food so I don't buy them for them. I have been trying to do different things with their lunches so they don't get bored and fruit leather was on several of the idea boards that I found for kid lunches. So, I decided to try out making homemade fruit leather.  Easy enough to do right?  Google search, find something simple with pretty pics and go for it.  I tried this recipe out.  I don't have accurate measurements--sorry folks, but it isn't really needed.  I used about half of the bag of mixed berries, squished the juice from half of a lemon, added about 1 tablespoon of honey to the mix and hit blend. 

It was a little thick when I blended it so I added a little water - maybe 1/4 cup or so.  I wanted it to pour and spread pretty easily.  My berries were mostly thawed so they were squishy when I added them in. This is a great way to use those strawberries or other fruit in your fridge that are overripe but still good. If you have picky eaters and don't want the seeds you will want to add more water and strain through a strainer.  My kids don't mind the seeds so I left them. Your drying time will just be a little longer. 

Spread the mixture out on a sheet pan covered in plastic wrap.  This will be a thin coating over the sheetpan. Set your oven on the lowest setting, 170 degrees is where my oven stopped, or use your dehydrator.  I know the whole plastic wrap in the oven thing and melting...this will not happen, you are only heating the air up so it won't melt.  If you feel better you can use a silpat pad to spread on.  I am going to try out parchment paper.  This takes several hours.  I turned my oven on for a couple of hours before bed, turned off the oven over night, turned it back on in the morning and just kept an eye on it.



The finished product.  I know it looks burnt...it isn't.  It is just dark because it is dehydrated out and I used dark colored berries.  You want the fruit leather to be flexible and dry to the touch.  If you let it get too dry to the point its just brittle you can brush on some water and let it absorb into the fruit.  Now the site I visited showed cutting it with scissors and making the fun little rolls.  My cute little heathens just tore off pieces and enjoyed. You could also use little cutters and cut out shapes that match the holiday or event that is around the corner. The flavor is concentrated down so you might need to play with the amount of sweetener you need.  My kids like lemons (they eat them raw), so they don't mind the tartness.



I am going to try mango ones next.  I will keep the lemon in it and probably omit the honey.  Mangoes are sweet on their own and added sugar isn't really necessary in my opinion.  Peeling off the plastic wrap was interesting.  I was also thinking this would be great time to use the press and seal plastic so I could get the edges sealed away from the mixture.  I had a few "soft" spots where the edges were covered up by the plastic. In all it was successful.  If you try this out, let me know your successes and challenges.  I would love to share them with other followers.