Fruit leather

We picked 20.5 pounds of blueberries so far this summer and with the encouragement of my midwife friend Abby I made leather last night and I am sold! I am already saving my pennies so I can buy the industrial dehydrator from Cabellas!

 

















Until the time comes that I can afford it, I will have to live vicariously through the graces of a friend. Thanks Abby! Here comes the tricky part though as Abby needed to walk me through it because she is the kind of genius that does things in her head and hates following recipes. I am only able to do that after I have made it once or twice and THEN I can tinker. Because of this, Abby walked me through the entire process up until the dehydrating part, because then it is just an aspect of time. Through this process, I have cobbled together a list of ingredients but the amounts are entirely NON-SPECIFIC because you truly can not F up fruit leather.

Ingredients

lots and lots of Berries (any kind will work but blueberries are the best and strawberries make a different type even though I used a pint in this leather.)
1 orange
the zest of the orange
a dash lemon juice
a pinch of salt
a couple table spoons maple syrup
1 TB cinnamon
1 TB nutmeg
a small amount of ground cloves (careful as this concentrates over time)
1 tsp dried ginger - to taste so be moderate
1 TB Vanilla
a dehydrator
parchment paper

Directions

1. Fill pot with Berries


























2. Add the Juice of a large orange
 

 

3. Macerate the berries as you bring it to a slow boil over a low heat.
Let it soften up and get nice and happy.

4. Start adding your spices

5. Bring to a boil and stir requently.  Let it get nice and hot and happy and bubble away.  over medium heat at a rolling simmer.


6. As it thickens let it cool down a bit and then turn off for 30 minutes. Stir periodically until it stops steaming when you stir. During this time, get the dehydrator shelves ready and cut parchment paper to size to cover the shelves. Here's Abby helping.


7. In batches, run the berries through quick bursts in the blender. You want a think chunky mixture as it binds together better in making leather. This was my first round and it was a bit too thin.

































8. Pour a generous circle of mixture of center of parchment paper covered tray and smooth out with a rubber spatula until it is spread into a uniform shaped layer.

9. When layer is even and covers the paper like the picture above, put shelve into the dehydrator and continue with the remaining berry mixture.



















Leather dries in the dehydrator until dry when it no longer is tacky/sticks to your finger when touched.

Here are a few picture of me having my hand in it.

10. The final step is to cut the parchment paper into equal long strip and roll the leather fruit side in into roll ups and store in a plastic bag in a refridgerator until gone and it is time to make some more!