When you look at an apple tree and see that it is loaded with fruit…it’s all so very pretty and exciting. So you begin to pick the apples and load your boxes…and it gets even more pretty and exciting. And then you go overboard because all of it is all so pretty and exciting that you just can’t stop picking.
And then, you go home with all of your apples, and someone else calls you on the phone and asks if you want some more apples. And you say, sure, because you just hate to turn away good (free) food. So then, you have even more apples.
And then someone else calls you (in the same day) and asks if you want some peaches. Like FOUR banana boxes full of peaches. And you get really excited (forgetting briefly about all of the apples) and say, yes, you’d love to have all those peaches. (And then you share some of the peaches because really, four banana boxes full? Have you seen a banana box?)
And then you get started in your kitchen making applesauce and canning and freezing peaches…and you keep working until everything, including your children, begin to look like either an apple or a peach. Sad, but true.
You decide that you’re kind of tired of doing the very same things with your fruit, so you try to make some fruit leather. And it works, and it’s yummy. Everything and everyone around you still looks like an apple or a peach…but at least now, you have another kind of snack stored away in your pantry for the winter. Hooray!
Here’s what you would do…
Apple Fruit Leather
1. Make applesauce as shown here.
2. Put a piece of buttered parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread the applesauce about 1/8 inch thickness on the cookie sheet.
3. Put it into a 170 degree oven for somewhere between 10-18 hours or longer, depending on your oven. Your fruit leather will be done with it is no longer wet….just sticky and leathery.
You can add some kind of sweetener to it or maybe some cinnamon or nutmeg if you’d like…I just left mine plain and it is sweet and yummy as can be!
Peach Fruit Leather (So Easy!!!)
1. Wash peaches
2. Cut them off of their pit and throw them, skin and all, into the blender.
3. Add a shot of water and puree them until there are no chunks.
4. Spread it onto a piece of buttered parchment paper on a cookie sheet, about 1/8 inch thick.
5. Put it into a 170 degree oven for somewhere between 10-18 hours or longer, depending on your oven. Your fruit leather will be done with it is no longer wet….just sticky and leathery.
***A few things to note about making the fruit leather.
*While you are making it you might think that it is taking FOREVER. And you’d be right. It does. Be patient.
*My fruit leather didn’t dry evenly in my oven…so sometimes I would cut off the sections that were dry (so that they wouldn’t get overdone), and stick the rest back in the oven. This meant I had some weird shaped fruit leather, but I was going to cut it all up to store it anyway, so it didn’t matter.
*I loved it that I could put this in the oven in the late evening, then I could go to sleep and have it be all done, or almost done, when I got up in the morning!
I let us all have a sample taste….then I put it into a jar and into the pantry (should be stored in a cool, dark place). Right now we have so many fresh fruits available to us that I’m sort of hoarding the food I’m preserving. I’ll pull out the fruit leather on some wintery day when fresh fruit is not so abundant! THEN it’ll really be a treat!
Okay, I’m off to go start peeling more apples… 
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Denai says:
OH, you make me want to make some of those!
and I DO KNOW ALL TO WELL about the LOAD of apples… we just picked apples for the 4th time this year… this time we walked away with 50 GALLONS of apples….
My hubby canned 35 quarts of applesauce yesterday. WHAT A MAN!!!!
Probably 21 quarts let of apples outside… That makes for 154 Quarts of applesauce this season… I have been selling some at work… but for the most part, we will keep it!
SHOULD I PICK AGAIN?????
I mean for FREE, who can say NO???????
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:21 am
Julie says:
Laura,
The fruit leather looks fabulous! I just purchased a food dehydrator, so I’m anxious to give it a try.
If I were to use the oven method, is there something besides parchment paper that I can use? I don’t have any, but I DO have waxed paper, foil, and saran wrap.
Thanks!
Julie
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 am
Marnie says:
Ok…you are really making me envious here!
Our fruit trees just don’t produce anything. They blossom out great in the Spring, then the blossoms either freeze or blow away without setting any fruit. I would LOVE to have fresh fruit to preserve. I paid $20some dollars each for a box of peaches and a box of nectarines from Azure just so I could freeze them. It is good to have organic fruit frozen for smoothies. But how much better to pick it fresh (…and get it for free!).
Keep up the good work!
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
Christy says:
Wow…that looks great! I was just telling my son last week that we should make some of this. How long will it keep like this?
Blessings!
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 am
Teresa says:
You are amazing! This looks delicious, and totally healthy! I just made up a batch of applesauce last week. I’ll have to try out this fruit leather now!
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Debbie says:
I’m feeling your fruit abundance here. Glad to have another thing to make. My freezer can hold no more!
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Tiffany says:
…and we KNOW because of your love affair with jars that you have the jars to put them in!
I am simply running out of room for all of this food I am canning and freezing. But I am wishing for more peaches for more salsa.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Amy says:
Oh, GOOD. I was so afraid when I read the title that this post would include a food dehydrator, and I don’t have one of those. I do have an oven, though! And lots and lots of apples… and a 5 gallon bucket full of beautiful big pears. Do you think I could do the same thing with my pears? I was told that there were many more buckets where that one came from… my dad picked them for me.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Kate says:
Thank you so much for this Laura. I can’t wait to try it out. Our kids will love this, and so will I! Yum!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Beth says:
Maybe you mentioned it and I missed it, but you can also make fruit leather with a deyhdrator. That is how I make mine. Spread it out on the teflex sheets/jelly roll sheets and I think it is 135 degrees for about 12 hours.
Blessings, Beth
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Sherry says:
How many peaches would you use? This sounds absolutely delish, Laura!
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
MaryBeth @ FourSillySisters says:
Thanks as always for the great info, Laura. I picked a few more apples today for trying this fruit leather. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Sarah says:
Thank you for the neat idea! I have a LOT of pears, and I’ve (accidently) made pear butter, but still have a lot left over. What am I going to do!!!! Tommorrow I am going to cut pears and dry them. Hopefully I’ll also figure out how to make stewed pears.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:04 pm