Fruit Leather

 I made fruit leather! What is this so called "fruit leather"? Well it's not exactly like leather, it's a lot like a fruit-roll-up.  However a million times better! Did you know fruit roll ups contain: "pears from concentrate, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Fruit Roll-Ups also contain 2 percent or less than 2 percent citric acid, sodium citrate, acetylated monoglycerides, fruit pectin, dextrose, maltic acid, ascorbic acid, natural flavor and the following food coloring: blue 1, red 40 and yellows 5 and 6." from this website: http://www.livestrong.com/article/523619-fruit-roll-up-ingredients/#ixzz231AhB95O
Wow that took up a ton of space! MY fruit leather contains 3 things: Fruit, orange juice, sugar. I can pronounce all of that! I only sweeten a little with sugar and it depends if the berries are way too tart. If they are super sweet I don't add any sugar. The orange juice is just me layering my flavors.
I gave some tastes out to two little girls: and one said "hey there are seeds in this!" I said "Yeah there are seeds in Raspberries!" She still liked it. Even my fruit hating fella was snacking on them. He likes fruit flavored things, but not actual fruit. Well I figure this is as close as I can get for him. 

The easiest and "lazy" way to make, is by having a food dehydrator, I mix up pour into my trays and plug in. About a day later it's done! But for all of you who don't have this handy tool, it can be made in the oven. It still takes about a day to do so. It slowly takes the moisture out of the fruit, leaving the yummy slightly sticky snack. Since it is berry season right now I have been stocking up on them. I predict that come fall I will be taking advantage of pears, apples, and other fall fruits. This works best with fresh fruit- not canned.  Enough with the long winded talk of equipment, and yummy fruits. Here is my basic fruit leather recipe- Feel free to play around with flavors. Comment below if you try any that are good!

Raspberry -Orange Fruit leather

4- 1/2 pints of fresh raspberries

1 orange - zested and juiced

1/4 cup sugar or more to taste

Puree in a blender, food processor or by hand with a potato masher.

If using a oven preheat to lowest setting mine is 200*

prepare your pans Line a sheet pan or dehydrator trays with parchment paper

THE NEXT STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! SPRAY THE PARCHMENT WITH NONSTICK SPRAY!!!

 Pour puree into pans/ trays- (for each tray I used 1 cup of puree)

Dehydrate / bake 10-12 hours. I do it overnight so I don't constantly check to see if it's done.

You are thinking how do I know it's done? Well it will be slightly tacky and it will hold it's shape.

Next to keep them rolled up- I put down a piece of wax paper and put down a single layer and cut into 2-3 inch strips, and simply rolled them up. Since it has been so hot this last week I am keeping them in the fridge. I am not sure how long they will keep, but they won't last that long here.