A great homemade fruit leather snack for your child’s lunch box
There is more madness than method with this recipe. There aren’t often measured quantities, as I use left over stashes of fruit from the freezer or the left over fruit that doesn’t get preserved, and so there are no consistent measurements.
It is also a great opportunity to sneak some vegetables in for the kids.
Try making the small batch below, and as you get more confident you will get an eye for what you want the fruit leather pulp to look like, and you can adjust the batch to suit how much fruit you have.
Tips and Tricks
- When hiding veges I like to use ones that have a similar colour to the fruit and are naturally sweet
- Apricots and carrots or pumpkin
- Plums and peas
- Black boy peaches and peas
- Strawberries and marrow
- If you have a marrow appear in the zucchini patch – peel it and take the seeds out. The flesh is white and is easy to hide.
- Any excess pulp can be placed in the fridge for you to make a batch the next night.
- I like to store my leather in a jar with a screw lid. It looks pretty on the shelf.
What type of baking paper should I choose?
I choose to use the compostable baking paper that is now available. That way it can come home from school in your child’s lunch box and go straight in to the compost bin. Alternatively some schools will have compost bins or a worm farm. Both are a perfect option for your child to discard their waste into.
How do I dry the fruit Leather?
You can either choose to use your kitchen oven or a dehydrator.
If you choose to use your oven – choose to dry the leather overnight or at a time when you will not need to use it for such a long period of time.
How do I stew the fruit and vegetables?
Cut up your fruit and vegetables into chunks. Remove any blemishes as well as any stones or pips.
For every kilogram of fruit you use. Add 1/4 cup of water. Simmer over a very low heat. Some fruit may retain more moisture than others so add more water if you think it is going to burn the pot.
Fruit Leather
Ingredients
- 1 kg Stone fruit or berries of your choice
- 250 grams Complimentary vegetables (see list in blog post)
- 2 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 60 degrees fan bake
- The leather takes up to 12 hours to dry in the oven – so it is best to make and dry overnight.Alternatively you could make in a dehydrator.
- Cut up your fruit into small chunks and grate any vegetables (except peas – they will be fine). Remember to remove any blemishes, stones and pips.
- Simmer over a very low heat in a heavy bottomed pot with the remaining ingredients.
- Once soft and mushy use a stick blender to make a smooth pulp.
- Line your oven trays with compostable baking paper.
- Spoon two or three ladles of pulp onto the baking paper and use an icing knife to smooth it out into a thickness of 2-3mm.
- Place the trays into the oven and leave overnight.When you are confident the leather is dry all over, take it out of the oven and allow it to cool
- Leave the leather on the baking paper, and cut the leather into strips and roll up. Use a piece of washi tape to secure the roll (optional).
- Store in an airtight container.