This stay at home thing has had me doing things that I never thought that I would do. If you remember a couple of months ago I told you about starting a garden in the desert in New Mexico. To my amazement, my garden is doing well and I am enjoying fresh kale and beet greens every night for dinner. My tomatoes did not do as well as I expected but my plants produced about ten tomatoes. So I was glad when my husband brought home an abundance of tomatoes from the church pantry. My freezer is filled with sun-dried oven-roasted tomatoes. I even learned how to roast tomatoes in the air fryer. I even taught my boys how to bake frog bread. Now the latest thing that I am doing in the kitchen is preserving summer fruit and making homemade fruit leather or as my boys like to call them fruit roll-ups.
Foraging for fruit all summer
While I was out running with my boys, I discovered some fruit trees. In June, my neighbor informed me that cherries on a tree near my house were edible and were really purple leaf plums. All these years, I thought they were ornamental cherries as they littered my driveway. So I picked the small purple plums and have several gallon-size bags of plums in my freezer. In July, I discovered another plum tree that was bursting with fruit. I got permission from the owner to take all I wanted. So I chopped up the plums and froze them for my smoothies. My younger son also discovered a peach tree. The owner let us pick some but I did not have enough to freeze as we ate them all up while they were fresh. In August, I discovered an apple tree while out running. I only picked a couple as that was all I could reach and carry home. I combined those apples with some apples that I had from the store and I made a delicious no-peel apple crisp.
Then in September, I discovered another peach tree close to my house. There were plenty of good small unripe peaches scattered on the ground. So I took them home to ripen them. The peaches went from unripe to mushy in a day so they were not good for freezing. So I decided to make peach fruit leather. I was amazed at how easy it was to make fruit leather.
How to make peach fruit leather
Making peach leather or fruit roll-ups is so simple and I am asking myself why I had never made any type of fruit leather. All these years I have been buying over-price fruit leather! When you have excess fruit from your fruit trees (or access to someone else’s) and your freezers are full, then making fruit leather is the easy way to rescue fruit before it goes bad. Sure you could preserve the fruit with canning it in glass mason jars but that is time-consuming and costly if you don't have canning supplies. The only items that you need to make fruit leather are peaches, baking sheets, silicone mats, and an oven. You can use other fruits too like apricots, strawberries, grapes, or even blueberries.
A perfect healthy snack for kids
While my boys enjoy fruit, they usually only eat one serving a day. So fruit leather is a delicious healthy snack that helps my boys reach their 5-a-day goal. Fruit leather is so much sweeter than fresh fruit so my boys will eat more. When you make fruit leather without sugar it is a healthy snack. One serving of fruit leather is equal to several servings of fruit. Fruit leather is healthy after school snack that kids will enjoy.
To peel or not to peel the fruit
There is no need to peel the peaches as the skin of the peach is soft and not be noticed after blending the fruit. If you want to peel the peaches, you may if you like. I am big on eating the peels of fruit as that adds extra fiber. You should check out my recipe for No Peel Summer Apple Crisp Recipe, which is an easy way to enjoy the taste of apple pie without all the work. If your peaches are overripe and mushy, they will work just fine for fruit leather. If you have no fresh peaches, can peaches or frozen peaches will make delicious fruit leather. My boys loved the first batch of fruit roll-ups that I made from the fresh peaches so I made a second batch of homemade fruit roll-ups with can peaches. Two 15-ounce cans of peaches made one baking sheet of homemade fruit leather.
A silicone mat is a must
I highly recommend using a silicone mat or Silpat when making fruit leather. I have heard from others that the fruit puree sticks to parchment paper. You could try using plastic wrap when making the fruit leather, just make sure it is a sturdy plastic wrap that is microwave safe. I am thinking that those plastic cooking liners that you use in the oven would be a great idea. The oven temperature is low enough so the plastic will not melt. I have not used plastic wrap as I love using my silicone mats.
Should I add sugar?
I recommend tasting the fruit puree first before adding sugar to the puree. It really depends on the peaches you are using. Peaches can be sweet or tart depending on their ripeness. While I like my fruit leather to contain no added sugar, the peaches that I used were very tart so I added a couple tablespoons of honey to my peach puree. You can also add maple syrup. When using fruits like strawberries or blueberries, you may not need to add any sweetener to them as they are not tart fruits. I have not tried using natural zero-calorie sweeteners when I make fruit leather so I am not sure if they would work.
Other fruits work too
+ You can use other fruits like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, or apricots.
+ Frozen or can fruit can also be used.
+ If you have an abundance of fruit, you can make two trays at a time.
+ If you have extra fruit puree, you can make two trays of fruit leather at a time.
+ Store the extra fruit puree in the fridge, for up to a week, and make more fruit leather another day.
+ Two 15-ounce cans of peaches make one sheet of fruit leather.
How to cut the fruit leather
Tip: Place the fruit leather on parchment paper before you cut it into strips. Then cut the fruit and parchment paper together to make rolling them simple.
Healthy grab-and-go snacks
Fruit leather is a healthy grab-and-go snack that is perfect for school lunches. The fruit leather will be fine for several hours if not refrigerated. My boys like snacking on the peach fruit leather between their online classes. If you are looking for other healthy snack ideas, check out some other delicious recipes below.
Non-Dairy Date Salted Caramels
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2019/01/non-dairy-date-salted-caramels.html
Plant-Based Healthy No-Bake Salted Chocolate Brownies
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2020/02/plant-based-healthy-no-bake-salted.html
Simple Dairy-Free Apple Pie Cookies
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2019/11/simple-dairy-free-apple-pie-cookies.html
Gluten-Free Chocolate Mocha Protein Brownies
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2017/10/gluten-free-chocolate-mocha-protein.html
Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Pretzel Protein Bites
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2018/01/peanut-butter-pretzel-protein-bites.html
Make sure to Pin this recipe on Pinterest for later
No Peel Peach Fruit Leather
Yield: 4 cups of fruit yield about one baking sheet of fruit leather
Homemade fruit leather is so easy to make and is a great healthy snack!
Ingredients:
- Fresh Peaches or two 15 ounces can of peaches, drained
- Sweetener to taste
Instructions:
- Line a baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat. Set aside.
- Slice the peaches into about 4 pieces and remove the pit. Puree the peaches in a blender until smooth and looks like a puree. Then taste the fruit puree sauce and add sweetener to taste.
- Pour the fruit mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread to about a 1/8″ thick.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and turn the oven to its lowest temperature but no higher than 175 F.
- Bake for 6-8 hours, until the fruit is set and the center is not tacky. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.
- Gently peel off the fruit leather from the silicone mat. Cut into squares or strips using a pizza cutter, knife, or scissors. If you want to make fruit roll-ups, roll the strips in parchment paper. Store in an air-tight container.
- The fruit leather will keep up to a month in an air-tight container.
Notes:
+ You can use other fruits like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or apricots.
+ Frozen or can fruit can also be used.
+ If you have an abundance of fruit, you can make two trays at a time.
+ If you have extra fruit puree, you can make two trays of fruit leather at a time.
+ Store the extra fruit puree in the fridge, up to a week, and make more fruit leather another day.
+ Two 15 ounce cans of peaches make one sheet of fruit leather
