With a predicted windstorm looming, I cleaned out our freezers and consolidated them so we wouldn’t lose anything if the power went out, which was a good thing, as we lost power early Monday morning for quite some time. We had bags of frozen berries that we had grown and picked on our homestead. They were mixes of Black, Marion, and Red Raspberries. If you have picked berries you babied all summer, seeing them destroyed by a power outage is depressing.
We also had Honeycrisp apples we had grown this year in our orchard, which were ugly on the outside but still good to eat.
I can’t eat berry seeds, as they are not friendly to my body, so I strained the berries, discarding the seeds. Of course, this leaves your mixture very thin (and you get less product, but so be it). So, by adding apples, I got the natural pectin, which helped thicken the mixture.
With a little hands-on work, I soon had plenty of mixture drying on the dehydrator and, within 12 hours, delicious fruit leather. It is tart, naturally sweet, and has a pleasant chewy texture.
It also would work great added to oatmeal with hot water (add a splash more water than called for), and it would rehydrate and melt into your oats.
I run on an older L’EQUIP dehydrator that I bought in maybe 2004 or 2005, and it is still running strong. A newer version of it is here. If I were to replace it, I would probably buy a metal one with flat trays and a center spindle. That would more resemble my freeze-dryer trays. But since it is working fine, I can suck it up.
Want more dehydrator recipes? See here!
Berry and Apple Fruit Leather
Ingredients:
- 5 pounds berries
- 3 apples
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Directions:
If using frozen berries, let them thaw on the counter first. Heat the berries in a heavy-bottomed pot and stir often until they break down.
Press the berries through a fine mesh strainer until the seeds are left. Discard the seeds. I had 4 cups of liquid.
Transfer the liquid to a blender, adding in the lemon juice.
Peel and core the apples, roughly chop, and add to the berries.
Blend until the apples are broken down.
Transfer back to the heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a simmer. Then cook for 15 minutes over medium-low heat to low, maintaining a low simmer. The mixture will thicken, so stir often. Once the time is up, take off the stove and let cool a bit, stirring. The natural pectin will thicken up.
Meanwhile, get out your dehydrator. Using parchment paper, cut out a rough shape of a tray, then trim it so it fits over the center core (if your dehydrator has that) for ventilation, then trim the sides so it lays.
Spread the fruit mixture in sections, about ½ to ¾ cup each, and make sure it is spread evenly. I used 3 trays total, and had about 4 cups mixture.
Place on the dehydrator, set at 135°. It took us about 12 hours. Every hour, I moved the trays so that each tray visited the bottom, where it was the hottest.
At about 8 hours in, the leather was set on top, so I cut the parchment paper to fit each section and placed them upside down so the top was more exposed to the heat.
In the last 1 to 2 hours, I peeled each section off the paper and allowed it to finish drying.
Once fully dry, turn the dehydrator off and let cool down.
Using a pizza cutter, I cut the section into halves.
Cut new parchment paper to fit, and roll each section up tightly, then tie kitchen twine around to hold it closed.
Store it in a glass mason jar, and if you are taking it with you for a snack on a trip, transfer it to a zip-top snack-size bag before leaving.
For the long term, add a desiccant packet and seal the jar.
~Sarah