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Homemade Fruit Leather

Posted by in Step-by-Step Recipes

Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

 
When it comes to making homemade fruit leather, I will confess that I have been totally and completely intimidated. I mean, how does one even accomplish such a task? How does fruit go from actual fruit to … leather?

With that being said, I spent half of my youth chewing fruit roll-ups and consequently trying to rot my teeth, so I knew that this fruit leather had to be mastered. My mom would stock up on different flavors of fruit leather and it would often disappear within the week. When I came across Georgia’s recipe for Homemade Fruit Leather, I just couldn’t resist. It seemed foolproof. And delicious. And so enticing that I immediately bought more strawberries than one should ever need and got to work.

While the entire recipe is a bit time-consuming, it is quite easy. The majority of the time is downtime anyway. You can make this while you sleep!

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

These are the only ingredients you need: strawberries (or fruit of your choice), a lemon, water and sugar. Yes, it’s that simple!

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

The first step is to cut the fruit into small pieces. Don’t be concerned about them being uniform in size. Just do a rough chop so we can add them to a saucepan. I ended up with 2 1/2 cups of strawberries.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Make sure you taste test your fruit to see how sweet it is. This will give you a rough idea of how much sugar you need or want to add.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Slice your lemon and grab a bowl for juicing purposes.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Squeeze your lemon to extract the juice. You only need about one tablespoon. Fresh is best!

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

In a small saucepan, combine the chopped fruit, water and lemon juice. Heat it over medium heat and stir, then cover. Let the fruit stew for a few minutes until the berries begin to break down. I let mine go for about 5–6 minutes.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

It should come out looking saucy. Now would be a good time to preheat your oven, so turn it on to 170 degrees F, or the lowest temperature it will go. It should heat up quickly.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Now it’s time to add the pureed fruit to the food processor. You can see that I lack patience judging from the steam rising out of the saucepan. Notice the cookie jar in the back. Sometimes (read: every single day) I get distracted by that (full) jar.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Give the fruit mixture a good whirl. You want it completely blended. Speaking of blended, you can also use a blender if you do not have a food processor. (In Georgia’s blog post, she uses a blender.)

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Taste testing time! Try a bit more of the pulp before adding the sugar. I am warning you: this stuff is good to enough to drink. I nearly slurped it all up and had to start over.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Add your sugar. I’m assuming that you could also make this recipe sugar-free if you’d like. I went with the entire 1/4 cup of sugar because I have very sweet teeth. If you have extraordinarily sweet fruit or would like it mild in sweetness, add the sugar one teaspoon at a time, blend, then taste test and go from there. Easy as pie.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Lay some parchment paper on a sheet pan, and give it a very thorough coating of non-stick spray. Don’t miss any spots! You can also brush the paper with vegetable oil. Whatever works for you.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Pour the fruit mixture onto the paper-lined sheet pan. Try not to drool.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Spread it out with a spatula so it is evenly distributed. Then place it in the oven.

Now it’s time to wait! And wait … and wait … and wait. This recipe takes about 12–15 hours total. Don’t fret—I was concerned too! But I am convinced that it is completely worth it now. If you do not have 15 consecutive hours to be at home with the oven on, you can also sit the fruit mixture near a sunny window where it will be warm. I first stuck mine in the oven at 3 pm. I let it go for 7 hours, checking it occasionally. The only downside is that I realized halfway in that I could not use my oven for dinner! Oh well. Pizza it was.

During the “dehydrating” process, I did notice the mixture was getting a bit brittle. I followed Georgia’s instructions and brushed the leather with some water using a pastry brush. It worked like a charm! At 10 pm, I inverted the leather onto another oiled, paper-lined baking sheet. I gave it a good brushing of water since I would not be checking it for 6-7 hours. I also left the oven open a crack to ensure it would not get too warm. Then I went to bed dreaming of homemade strawberry fruit roll-ups. It was like Christmas Eve!

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

In the morning, the fruit leather looked like this. I love the little seeds.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Using a pizza cutter, I cut it into strips.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

Like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t stop tasting it. It was so delicious. And so easy! I couldn’t believe that I could make fruit leather at home. I rolled it up just like the old school fruit roll-ups.

I sense a new obsession coming on. Since last week, I’ve been envisioning every flavor of fruit leather known to man. I am quite anxious to try peach leather. And how about fig leather? Or mango leather? Kiwi leather? I would love those crunchy little seeds. Or how about this kumquat and tangerine fruit leather by acharlestonkitchen? Could one make a cantaloupe and fresh mint leather? I think we all know what I’m going to be doing for the next 3 months.

 
 
 
Tasty Kitchen Blog: Homemade Fruit Leather. Guest post by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is, recipe submitted by TK member Georgia Pellegrini.

 
This is probably one of my favorite recipes to date. It’s delicious and makes for a perfect snack. It’s much healthier than the processed fruit leather since you can determine exactly what goes into it. And it is so much easier than I previously thought. Thanks so much for the recipe, Georgia! (If you don’t know her yet, you should! Visit her blog, Georgia Pellegrini and enjoy all her other wonderful recipes and posts.)

 
 

Printable Recipe

Homemade Fruit Leather

See post on georgiapellegrini’s site!
3.25 Mitt(s) 4 Rating(s)4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 54 votes, average: 3.25 out of 54 votes, average: 3.25 out of 54 votes, average: 3.25 out of 54 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5

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Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 15

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Description

An easy way to make dried fruit leather at home with any fresh fruit.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Strawberries Or Other Fresh Fruit, Chopped Into Small Pieces
  • ¼ cups Water
  • 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • ¼ cups Sugar (optional, Depending On The Sweetness Of Your Fruit)
  • 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 150 -170 degrees F.

2. Place the fruit in a medium saucepan with the water and lemon juice. Simmer on medium heat, mostly covered, until they are very soft and mushy. Stewing the fruit helps it retain its color.

3.Transfer the fruit pulp mixture to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. If it is a fruit with seeds, a food mill will remove the seeds more easily than a food processor and strainer. Taste the fruit at this point, and add the sugar if it is not sweet enough. Keep in mind that as the fruit leather dries, it will concentrate the natural sugars in the fruit and become sweeter on its own. Add a small amount of water to the mixture if necessary so that it has a pourable consistency.

4. Cover a baking sheet with plastic or a silicon baking pad. The temperature of the oven is low enough not to affect the plastic.

5. Spray or brush your baking sheet with the vegetable oil, then spread the fruit puree onto the sheet tray with an offset spatula or knife to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Place it in the oven for 6-8 hours. Make sure there is air circulating to prevent scorching. Alternatively place it in the sun for 6-8 hours.

6. Invert the fruit leather onto another baking sheet that has been covered in plastic or silicon baking pad and oiled, and remove the first lining. Place in the oven or sun for another 6-8 hours. If it becomes too brittle at any point, simply brush on water with a pastry brush to rehydrate it.

7. Cool the sheet tray and cut the fruit leather into desired sizes. Dust with corn starch to prevent sticking, cover in plastic and store in a cool place in a sealed container.

 
 
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Jessica Merchant is a personal trainer turned food writer and blogger. Her blog, How Sweet Eats, is where she proclaims her love for all things sweet, all things bacon, and everything else in between. She works her magic in her Pittsburgh kitchen, which she shares with her husband of 2 years.

 

81 Comments

Comments are closed for this recipe.

Mama Zen on 3.18.2011

I can’t believe that’s all there is to it!

Mary C. on 3.18.2011

My grandmother used to make fruit leather all the time and when us grandkids came for a visit we would always clean her out!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe :) Gotta go make some with my girls!

girliefriend on 3.18.2011

I know you probably didn’t have them around for long, but how would you store these? How long would they last? Would there be spoilage?How about freezing?

ejdittman on 3.18.2011

Gonna have to give it a try, maybe even with frozen fruit out of season. Maybe strawberry and kiwi?

Jessica @ How Sweet It Is on 3.18.2011

Mary – I am sure you could sub some splenda, but I would greatly reduce the quantity since splenda is sweeter than sugar. Maybe start with a tablespoon, taste, and go from there?

Elisabeth on 3.18.2011

This looks so good!

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Katrina on 3.18.2011

This is a crazy good idea. I’m in love.

WenDee L Riffe on 3.18.2011

woooohoooo!!! jessica!!!!! your on the front page~~~keep up the good work!!! i am now gonna have to make this now that you have enticed me!!! you seem to do that a lot…when it comes to food and cooking and the such!!!!

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scrapperjade on 3.18.2011

My mom used to make fruit leather all the time when I was a kid! I LOVED it! She’d make rhubarb-strawberry and apple-cinnamon (she’d leave the peels on the apples – YUM).

Tricia in Washington on 3.18.2011

I always wanted to do this, being I have lots of strawberries, but it
seemed like so much work. Your step by step makes it look a lot easier than I thought. I will definitely make them now. Thx

Elizabeth H. on 3.18.2011

I have made this using applesauce (frozen from the fall) as a base (to make it go farther) and added peaches, blueberries, black raspberries (all fruit we had picked and stored in the freezer) and combinations thereof. I have never added additional sugar, but my peaches were frozen in sugar so there was a little from adding them. I have also done it in a dehydrator, but had a really hard time trying to figure out when it was done. The edges dried out way faster than the middle.

Dessie 3D on 3.18.2011

I use a dehydrator to make my fruit leather, fresh peaches are the best, in a pinch I have used applesauce with a little cinnamon the grandkids eat them faster than I can make them.

lauren in arkansas on 3.18.2011

I can’t wait for blueberry season!

Jo on 3.18.2011

That is amazing! I’m definitely going to make this. You know, for my five year old. I certainly won’t eat the whole thing. Cause it’s for my son.
;)

Liz on 3.18.2011

I have a ton of applesauce that I canned last fall. I wonder if I could use that & pick up the recipe at the baking part?

Amy on 3.18.2011

We have a gas stove. Makes me too nervous to have that thing on for 12-15 hours. Looks delicious, though!

Jenny on 3.18.2011

I made these all summer last year, and they didn’t last long at all. I tried grape, and they were wonderful. I should’ve strained out the pulp, but besides that! Pretty sure splenda would work just fine.

Mary on 3.18.2011

Would Splenda work just as well in this recipe?

Jazzy on 3.18.2011

I printed this recipe a while back, but haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. More or less b/c of the time involved. I’ve got a freezer full of strawberries and peaches that need to be used pretty quickly as it’s getting close to time for the new crop. I was thinking I’d make jam & jelly, but I believe I may actually try this! One thing I won’t do though–chop the fruit. I’m lazy–I’ll use a potato masher :-) Thanks for the tutorial!

TheresaMomto6 on 3.18.2011

Oh YUM!!! Definitely making this :)

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Urban Wife on 3.18.2011

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing. :)

Kristina on 3.18.2011

Thank you!!!!!!!! I’ve been wanting to make fruit leather for a while and have also been a little intimidated. We’ll be making them next week.

Shells on 3.18.2011

These would be gobbled up in no time at my house. Looks yummy.

The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh on 3.18.2011

This looks amazing! I’m not a seed gal so I’d probably have to peel some apples or something but I like the cantaloupe idea! YUM!

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georgiapellegrini on 3.18.2011

I’m so glad you made these and enjoyed them! Thank you for the kind words : )

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briana on 3.18.2011

What a fun way to make a store favorite at home! Cannot wait to try this!

Rachel @ Baked by Rachel on 3.18.2011

This looks fantastic!

Jodie (allgoodinmommyhood.com) on 3.18.2011

Wow – fabulous – LOVE fruit leather as do the munchkins. Great recipe!

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thejennybeanblog on 3.18.2011

This is genuis! I am definitely going to have to make these because I’m thinking I’d save a lot of money. I pay like 5$ for the all-natural organic fruit strips and they last me no time. Thanks!

Heather (Heather's Dish) on 3.18.2011

i would be in BIG trouble if i made this…i’m obsessed with fruit leather and the hubby doesn’t love it so i’d be alone in eating it!

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Laurie - Simply Scratch on 3.18.2011

yum!! I’m definitely making them soon! My girls would LoVe these!