# 60 Fruit Leather

I'm going to shift gears a bit and start a new theme I will call "puttin' up." It is an old fashioned term for home food preservation. And one way to preserve food is drying it. I got an Excalibur food dehydrator quite a few years ago and I love it. It is great for making yogurt, but one of my favorite things to make with it is fruit leather. They are so much better then the store- bought because I can make them without added sugar. So yummy and a great treat for the kids.

Fruit Leather

1 pound fresh or thawed frozen fruit (pears, berries, apricots, peaches)
3 Tb. OJ concentrate, thawed
Water as needed
1- 24 oz. jar of unsweetened applesauce

1. Combine your fruit (I'm using pitted cherries) and OJ concentrate in a saucepan and enough water to cover the fruit. Cook over medium heat until fruit is soft. Let mixture cool.

 

2. To make life easier for myself, I purchased fruit leather sheets for my Excalibur trays. I have a nine tray machine, and I have a sheet for all nine. That way when I am making fruit leather, I can fill every tray and get nine large sheets of leather when I am done.

3. After your fruit is cool add it to a food processor and puree until smooth.

4. In a large bowl combine puree and applesauce.

5. Spread the puree evenly in a 1/4 inch-thick layer on the leather sheet. Place tray in dehydrator. The drying time will depend on your machine, sweetness of the puree and thickness of the puree.

6. Set your machine heat setting to 135 degrees. Allow anywhere from 8- 20 hours to dry. Follow the directions for your own machine.

This recipe makes one 10x20 inch sheet, weighing about 6 oz. You will know it is dry when the sheet is dry to the touch and peels from the leather sheet.

I personally have experienced much longer drying time for puree that has the OJ concentrate in it. And it yields a much stickier leather. So beware. I actually do not use the OJ concentrate in my fruit leather. I typically use strawberries puree and applesauce and it has always given me good results.

This leather is seriously so good and you will never miss the extra sugar that is packed into the store bought fruit "roll-ups." The sugar naturally in the fruit is all the sweetness you will need.

To store, I layer my leather on top of each other with wax paper in-between. Then I roll it up and pop the whole thing into a large zip-lock bag. At room-temp it will keep for a whole year!!! If it lasts that long. My whole family loves it!