How to Make Fruit Leather

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Hey guys! Today I wanted to talk about fruit leather. Fruit leather is basically a healthier alternative to fruit roll ups. It is often made with just a hand full of ingredients and less sugar. As a child, my favorite snack was fruit roll ups, or anything gummy really. Now, I do not eat them because of the ingredients, I do not know what most of the ingredients are in it. I make it a general rule to not eat something if I do not know what it is. I was feeling a bit nostalgic the other day and I really wanted to have a fruit roll up. I remembered over the summer seeing something on Facebook about fruit leather, it seems have been all the rage over the warmer months the last few years. I recently purchased a dehydrator (if you are a regular reader then you know all about my dehydrator!) and I always keep an abundance of fruit around the house. I decided that I would try my hand at fruit leather.

The process  itself is fairly simple.You take 4-8 cups of fruit (depending on the size of your dehydrator and the thickness you want your leather to be) and you puree it in a food process or a blender. Then you put it on your sheets. If you do not the insert for fruit leather, you can line the tray with plastic wrap. Do not worry about the plastic melting, it does not get hot enough for it to melt.

Some people add sugar to their fruit but I found that it made it way to sweet. If you like to have sweeter things or if you want something more like candy then adding the sugar may be for you! This is completely up to the person making it.

When you poor it into your tray or baking dish, make sure that you do it slowly, or it will splash everywhere. Most importantly make sure you use a spoon or spatula to make sure it is even. If it is uneven it will not dehydrate well. You will have one half over done and the other half will be under done.

If you do not have a dehydrator you can also do this in a oven. Turn your oven down as low as it will go and wrap a baking dish in plastic wrap or wax paper. If you have a dehydrator you want to put it at 135 degrees and it will take 4-8 hours depending on the size and thickness of your leather.

I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did! I will leave the recipe below.

~Stella~

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Fruit Leather Recipe
Makes 1 tray

-4 cups of fruit
- 1/2 cup sugar *optional*

1. Puree fruit in blender or food processor
2. Slowly pour fruit on tray
3. Set dehydrator for 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 hours (or 135 degrees for 8 hours)
4. When finished peel off or tray and cut up into desired size
5. Serve
ENJOY!

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