When I was a kid the cool thing to have in your lunch was a Kool-Aid Jammer and Fruit By The Foot. Alas, I wasn't a cool kid, and I usually had a CapriSun and no sticky, corn syrup, red dye filled Fruit By The Foot. Total bummer. Now I'm a little older and a little wiser, and I know my mama was doing me (and maybe my teachers) a favor by not totally pumping me full of sugar and food coloring. Thanks ma! Well, we can still enjoy a sticky, fruity treat without all the funky junk. Enter, fruit leather!
My dear friend and neighbor had an abundance of juicy, red strawberries and asked if I wanted half a flat. Umm, heck yes! We traded that half flat of berries for jam and chocolate chip cookies, and I got to work on my fruit leather.
First, I washed and hulled two pounds of berries. Then I popped them in the food processor and pureed them until the liquid was smooth.
At this point, I tasted the puree and it seemed a little tart to me. So I added a smidge (official US standard measurement - look it up) of honey and a splash of good vanilla until I was satisfied with the taste. This is totally up to you how much sweetener you add, and you certainly do not have to add vanilla. I just happen to think everything tastes better with a little vanilla. If your berries are sweet enough, don't add any honey or sweetener and pat yourself on the back for making no sugar added treats. Hooray!
For a little variety, I chose to make a batch of strawberry banana too. I blended one pound of strawberries and one pound of bananas in my food processor until smooth. What a pretty, pretty color!
After tasting this puree, I decided the bananas added enough sweetness so I just added a little splash of vanilla and called it a day. You can strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve if you want to remove the strawberry seeds, but I don't mind them so I skipped that step. Next, I lined my dehydrator trays with parchment paper and spread the purees out on the lined trays.
You want the puree to be about an 1/8th inch thick. If your puree is spread too thin, your leather will be brittle. Too thick, and it will take forever to dry and might be too chewy.
Once my trays were all filled it was on to the dehydrator. Another blogger suggested starting out at a lower than normal temp for fruit leather, so I popped my trays in the dehydrator and set the heat at 105 degrees for 10 hours. After about 8 hours, I checked my trays and realized they needed to be turned and to dry for a little while longer, and a couple seemed a little runny still. My dehydrator model has a display with suggestions on temperature settings for different types of foods. The suggested temp for fruit leather was 135 degrees, so I bumped up the temp and set my timer for another 6 hours. I know, it's a long, long time to wait for a treat, but your patience will be rewarded!
Check it out! I made fruit leather! The texture should be a little sticky, but peel-able. I'm thinking I need to invest in some Silpats or Teflex sheets for my dehydrator because the parchment paper seemed to bunch a bit. Plus Silpats and Teflex are reusable - bonus! But, if you only have parchment paper on hand, that works too and the winkles in the leather don't affect the roll-ability or the tastiness.
Peel, roll and enjoy! These are so tasty and so incredibly easy to make! These, however, do not look like Fruit By The Foot.
Bam! Oh that's better. You can use scissors to cut your fruit leather in to strips. Then roll up in wax paper or parchment paper and you have your faux Fruit By The Foot.
Just look at that gorgeous red color and flecks of strawberry goodness! Way cooler than store bought, boxed junk in my opinion. Pack these in your family's lunches for that cool kid factor. Get the kids involved so they can say, "Yeah, I made these." Total cool kid status. I hope you give fruit leather a try! Don't stop at strawberry or strawberry banana. Branch out. Get crazy! There's a whole rainbow of fruit out there just waiting to be made in to fruit leathery yumminess!
