Preserving the taste of summer with homemade fruit leather

Here in California we end up with mountains of produce this time of year. Mom is a whiz at preserving it. I posted last week about some of the resources on this site for preserving the summer bounty. Fruit leather is a great option if you have abundant fruit. It is a bit like those “fruit roll up” products. It is a frugal choice as well when you can use your abundance now and benefit all year long. (For other money-saving food ideas, read this week’s Pennywise Platter at Nourishing Gourmet.)
In these two short videos, Mom describes the process to make fruit leather. The first video focuses on cleaning and liquifying the fruit. The second shows her process for dying it, including key tips like lining your pans with plastic wrap. Written instructions and videos are below the jump. Enjoy!

Making Fruit Leather – Lesson 1

Mom writes:
What do you do when all the peaches turn ripe in the same week?
What do you do when a neighbor drops three lugs of over-ripe plums on your doorstep?
What do you do when the local fruit stand is almost giving away over-ripe apricots?
Make fruit leather! It’s quick and easy.
Fruit
You can use almost any fruit imaginable if it has high enough sugar content. You might even try a combination of fruits like melon and banana. Experiment in small batches so you don’t lose too much fruit. Be creative and have fun with this!
Apples dry best in thin slices in a commercial dehydrator. The color and texture is better than sun-dried apples.
Steps
1. Thoroughly wash and stem the fruit. Peel them if necessary. (I don’t like peach skins.)
2. Cut out any obviously bad spots.
3. Puree the fruit in a blender. You want it smooth, not chunky. This helps insure even drying. There is no need to add sugar. The ripe fruit provided sugar enough to get the job done.
4. Prepare your drying surfaces: lay out plastic wrap to cover entire surface. If the surface is large like a table or piece of plywood, use multiple strips that overlap.
5. Be ready to start the drying process first thing in the morning of a sunny day if you are drying outside. Also, choose a spot that gets the most direct sun and as little dust from the road as possible. I use a 4 by 8 piece of plywood set up on two saw horses.
6. Pour out the pureed fruit mixture and spread it evenly with a spatula. It should be no more than ¼ of an inch thick.
7. If you are drying outside on a warm sunny day, the fruit leather will crust over by the end of the day making it of little interest to bugs. This is VERY IMPORTANT!
8. Drying time will vary depending on the length of your days and the daily temperatures. I’ve had leather finish in 3-4 days in really hot weather. But a word of caution: if the days are blisteringly hot, you might burn the leather. The flavor is OK, a bit smokey, but good. The color will be pretty dark.
9. When the fruit leather is completely dry, you will be able to peel it off the plastic wrap. If it refuses to peel, it needs more drying time.
Lesson 2

Making fruit leather is so easy and satisfying. If you haven’t made much in this particular batch, you don’t have much of a concern about how to store it. Your fruit leather will gone in a flash! But, let’s suppose you really get into this project and produce a great quantity. This is easy to do. It gets addictive to see the process and taste the results of different fruits drying. So, how will you use your bounty and where will you store it?
Storing Fruit Leather
1. After pulling the fruit leather loose from the plastic wrap, roll it into convenient size rolls. You may have to cut the fruit leather to do this. I recommend poultry shears for the job.
2. For fruit leather that will be used up in a week or two, just store it in glass jars with good fitting lids. The glass will keep it from drying out any more and the lid will keep dust and bugs out, at least most bugs.
3. With fruit you intend to keep a while, like all winter, store the rolls in an airtight container in the freezer. This way you don’t have to be concerned about moisture causing mold or itty bitty bugs enjoying the fruit of your labor.
Using Fruit Leather
1. Most fruit leather gets consumed as fruit rolls. In fact, most fruit leather never makes it to the storage stage. The fruit rolls make great snacks and take-along foods.
2. If you want to use fruit bits to add to baking, homemade granola or trail mixes, take out the needed number of fruit rolls from the freezer. Place them in a plastic bag. Twist the top of the bag closed. Holding the bag tightly by the twist, hit the bag sharply against a hard surface like a cement step. The fruit rolls will shatter like glass providing you with fruit bits galore.
3. If you have been exposed to the fried pies that came to California with the Dust Bowl migration, you should know that the filling in those pies is made from dried fruit. Fruit leather works really well. A trip down memory lane!