Fruit Leather

[OllieMartin]

Just to quote my good friend Hey Wayne here

Are these the same things that almost everyone on any cookery programme at the moment is using to make twill biscuits?

I think we are onto a culinary idea here folks - the tuile biscuits are just a very thin biscuit batter mix baked till crisp - the leathers are just a thin fruit or veggie puree, dried till chewy. Now how can we use these to embellish another fruit / veggie dish?

Sold! Who's going to try it first?

[Hilary B]

Not got the gadget (or the ingredients) but can come up with plenty of ideas....
How about using fruit leather 'shapes' to top a 'healthy options' trifle? Cut out 'confetti' style shapes to use instead of hundred-and-thousands. Maybe use vegetable ones to fancy-up a quiche or similar?Cut long strips and tie in bows to garnish any suitable food......

[Jeanied]

Thank Hilary B - you know we really could be onto something! All we need now is to decide exactly which flavour would suit which texture.

[Jeanied]

Latest fruit leather experiment: 4 black plums- quartered and stone removed and equal weight in blackberries (imported I'm afraid but I got carried away with the colour at the fruit counter) simmered with a tablespoon of water until pulpy - shoved in the liquidiser and seived after, added one teaspoon of runny honey to balance sweetness - then onto the baking parchment in the dehydrator for about 6 hours - totally delicious! I'm chuffed with this as I am not usually this experimental - the dehydrator is bringing out the adventurous side!

[Jillyreeves]

I made fruit leather earlier this year with home grown Bramley Apples, to the first batch I added home grown Victoria Plums and to the second Blueberries (sadly not homegrown).

I made it in the oven, really easy just takes a long time to dry out.

Great to pop into your pocket to take to the allotment for a energy boost :-)

[chris]

Sorry to bump this, but what sort of temp + time do you dry these out for in the oven? I mentioned it to my mrs as we're getting a handful of straws/alpine straws/rasberries a day... freezing them whole at the moment - but she's very interested in doing this!

thanks

[Jeanied]

Hi Chrismarks - and Mrs Chrismarks - here is a link to a 'making fruit leather' page: low oven though! Thanks for bumping this as it is a lovely way of dealing with loads of fruit.
Fruit Leather Recipe, How to Make Fruit Leather | Simply Recipes
One tip of my own - get some powdered glucose to toss the leather in once dried - it gets rid of the residual stickiness and makes it more like finger food.

[Snadger]

You can buy fruit 'nuggets' from Tesco's made from various fruits. These are good for kids as they are sugar free sweeties which are kind to the teeth..........and also go towards their five a day.
I imagine it would be quite easy to make these from fruit leather cut up into very small pieces (Nuggets).
Last year I bought a dryer thingy and up til now have only used it on my tomato glut last year. Time to dig it out methinks and make some fruit nuggets!