Saturday, June 9, 2012

Strawberry Sessions: Fruit Leather

Strawberry Session #2 = semi-failure.



When I was a kid I could eat a whole box of fruit roll ups in one sitting.  So when I came home wondering what to do with my 11lbs of strawberries, I knew one of the things with 100% certainty- Fruit Leather/Fruit roll ups. 

It was the easiest thing I have ever made... well, kind of.  First you add 3 cups of strawberries in the food processor with 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. (I doubled my recipe)


Process until it is smooth and combined.  You will always have the strawberry seeds in there.  That's okay- they're yummy!


Next step is to spread the strawberry mix on a cookie sheet.  This is where my failure begins (surprise, surprise).  Some places I read you can use aluminum foil or parchment paper and others say absolutely not, you can really only use Saran wrap.  I decided to ignore that source that said Saran wrap was the only option and use tin foil.  For one reason only, which seems to be a major theme in my strawberry sessions, I didn't have any Saran wrap.  So I was once again lazy and decided that what did this source know and used tin foil anyhow.  BIG mistake.

Once you line the cookie sheet with SARAN WRAP, spread the mix evenly.  It should be anywhere between 1/8-1/4 of an inch thick.


Put the cookie sheet in the oven at it's lowest setting (between 130-170) and let it dehydrate for 3-6 hours.  You will know when it is done when you touch it and it doesn't stick to your finger.  The edges will dry quicker than the middle, I found this unavoidable.  Don't worry about it.  Coat with water to avoid burning if it gets to that point.


I had one tray that dried faster than the other.  So I took it out of the oven and tried to peel it from the foil.  This is why you should never use foil:  It was stuck... stuck good..  I managed to get half of the fruit leather off (thank goodness).  I laid it on wax paper and cut the leather into strips and rolled them up.  I managed to get 6 fruit roll ups from this batch.


The second batch, well, I got zero fruit roll ups.  It was so stuck, that there was no saving any of it.  Failure :(

Of the 6 that I got, wow, were they ever tasty!  Honestly, 10 times better than store bought fruit roll ups.  Ally definitely thought so too!


So while this turned out to be a semi-failure, I would definitely do it again.  BUT lesson learned (again), use Saran wrap ONLY and if you don't have it... get it!  You're welcome...again.

P.S. Next strawberry session was finally a success!

3 comments:

  1. Sounds tasty. I'll have to try this on my food dehydrator. I think about it each time I do apples, but have yet to do so.

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  2. Awesome strawberry tales, Lindsay! Your pictures of each step are both informative & beautiful. Too bad about the tin foil problem, but wouldn't Saran Wrap melt? The first time you make something, it's usually a less-than-perfect learning process. The second or third time around is where the magic happens.

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  3. I am loving these posts. That looks amazing; I am definitely trying it.

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