No, this recipe does not turn a quart of berries into 264,000 feet of fruit leather. And yes, it is just fine if your fruit leather is not uber local, I just put in a little extra effort, by picking the organic strawberries and harvesting the honey from my backyard. Actually, the challenge and truth of 100 mile or 50 mile cooking is valiant, yet sobering for sure, and something everyone should try. This wholesome DIY “rollup of fruit” recipe is easy with no funky additives, three ingredients: fruit, honey and water. If you do not have honey handy, sugar would work just fine or you might not need at all.

Pure Berry Roll-Ups (adapted from S. Vinton’s Put Em Up)

Ingredients:

• 4 – 5 cups berries, any kind or combination, washed and dried
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup honey or sugar or less or skip

Instructions:

• Combine berries and water in large sauce or fry pan and bring to a boil. If using strawberries, you will need to hull them. Here is my simple method.
• Turn down the heat and simmer until the berries start break down. This does not take too long, maybe 5-10 minutes, they are berry delicate.
• Puree, mash, blend or strain the fruit if you like. This will remove seeds etc. I didn’t do anything extra, just left it a bit “rustic”.
• Simmer the berry slurry until it thickens up to honey-like consistency.
• Meanwhile, heat your oven to 170 F. If you have a convection oven, feel free to use it. This will speed up the process a bit. This would work in a toaster oven as well, albeit the batch would have to be smaller. Of course, this will work in a food dehydrator. I am trying to avoid accumulating one, however.
• Pour the berry slurry into a jelly pan lined with parchment paper (go well up and over the sides) and spread evenly.
• Place pan in the oven and dry for about two hours until tacky to the touch. Do not over dry or the leather will be brittle.
• When done, remove the pan and slide the parchment paper with fruit leather onto a cooling rack. Let it cool to room temperature, 10-20 minutes.
• Trim off the extra paper on the side, but do not unwrap. Roll the sheet up and then cut with a knife or scissors into 1-2 inch sections.
• Store in an airtight container or refrigerator, if it lasts that long. I think I might also trying cutting with cookie cutters for a playful snack and definitely will be trialing this with other fruits.

Other Strawberry Recipes:

• Cheesecake with balsamic strawberry sauce
• Strawberry Vinegar
• Strawberry Honey and Lemon Ricotta Tart
• Sunshine Strawberry Oven Jam

Other Fruit Leather Recipes:

• Plum Dandy with Ginger!