Fruit Leather (Almost)

How to almost make a peach fruit roll up.

My organic peaches are nearing the end of the season. I figured I would try to make fruit leather for my grand kids. I almost succeeded.

8 cups Peaches

4 tsp Sugar

4 tsp Lemon juice

knife and cutting board

Food processor

Large bowl

Spatula

Ladle

A dehydrator

Non stick dehydrator tray sheets

I picked peaches that hadn't rotted and fallen from the trees. I figure I'll get about 8 cups.

Organic growing is sometimes a nasty business. I have found peaches to be incredibly difficult. Peach leaf curl stunts the trees and slows fruit growth as well. Some years I get nothing. This years yield wasn't to bad. Some fruit is wormy some scabbed and some perfect. You can't market it so we enjoy it ourselves. We cut out the nasty bits and use whats left.

For each 2 cups of peaches, add a tsp of both sugar and lemon juice. The peaches are sweet but not quite sweet enough. The lemon juice will help the fruit keep its color.

Puree the mixture until it resembles the texture of apple sauce.

The non stick Teflon sheets are a must for this project.

Now add the fruit to the trays and spread it around. I used a spatula first, then held the sheet with my thumbs and tilted the tray to even things out a bit. I tried to keep the thickness at ⅜".

This is where things went off the rails. I had started this project late in the day. Having never made fruit leather before, I didn't know how long it would take. The puree was quite wet so I figured I would be safe to set the dehydrator at four hours and go to bed. When I checked on it the next morning it was as hard as a rock. That is where my interest in taking pictures died. Imagine that you dropped a sheet of glass and you've got the final picture.

I'll try again next year when I have the time to keep a closer eye on the dehydration process.