Homemade Fruit Leather

I have wanted to try making fruit leathers ever since I got my Excalibur dehydrator.  I never got around to buying the special non-stick sheets.  Instead I found a good, easy alternative.  W loves to make jerky, but it makes a huge mess.  It sticks to the dehydrator sheets which means cleaning them is a major chore.  That made me look for disposable solid sheets.  I found Paraflexx Disposable Parchment Paper Dehydrator Sheets that are pre-cut to the size.  First I tried them out for jerky.  They worked so well.  My only regret is that I did not buy them years ago.  That led me to trying them out for fruit leathers.

I decided to try two types.  The first one was apple using my homemade apple sauce.  I only had to open the canning jars for that one.  We have an abundance of gifted peaches in the freezer so I took a pack of those out to thaw.  Once they thawed I drained off a bit of the excess liquid and dumped the remainder into a blender.

I blended it until it was a smooth puree.

Next it was out to the dehydrator where I lined a couple of trays with the disposable sheets.

I poured the peach puree on one and the applesauce on a second.  These went into the dehydrator at 135 degrees for about 3 1/2 hours.  I should not have spread it out as thin as I did.  In the bottom tray, you can see the paper through the applesauce.  It was a learning experience.

This is after drying.  I just rolled up paper and all before cutting it into strips. I think if I had left it a bit thicker the finished product would have been chewier.  It was still delicious.  I will definitely do this again.  The ingredient list is super short.  The peach leather has peaches with a bit of lemon juice, and the apple leather has apple.  The store bought fruit strips have many more.  This is a healthy alternative when I am craving something sweet.