Apple Fruit Leather Recipe [Homemade]
Making fruit leather is one of the best ways to avoid fruit spoilage, especially fruits that are left in the fridge for days and no one seems eager to eat them. Preparing fruit leather is also one way of benefiting from the fruits’ nutrients. If your kids don’t eat enough fruit, make fruit roll-ups for them and watch them devour them with gusto!
Making homemade apple fruit leather is very easy and consists of short steps. You only have to slice the apples and cook them. Then, spread the puree and let It dry.
Some people use a blender for this and dry the puree without cooking. I do not like this method, since baked apples taste much better than raw apples. While the apples are baking, you can add some salt or sugar to give the apple leather a delicious sweet-and-sour taste!
In 2 hours to 2 days, apple fruit rolls are ready to use. After drying them, you can cut the fruit leather into roll shapes. Using scissors or a knife, cut the apple leather into strips and roll them. Put roll-ups in a jar and close this door, to avoid the apple fruit roll-ups drying. You can also wrap rolls and keep them in plastic bags.
If you mix apples with other fruits, you’ll have compound fruit leather. Some delicious combinations are apple and peach, nectarine, or plum. In Iran, there is a type of fruit leather that consists of 7 fruits which is extremely delicious. Which is called “Lavashake 7 miveh”.
How To Make Apple Fruit Leather At Home
Ingredients
- 2 kg Apple
- 1 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Salt
Instructions
- Prepare the apples; Wash the apples, cut each into four pieces and extract the seeds.
- Cook the apples; In a saucepan or pot, put the apples on the stove until fully cooked and soft, you can close the lid. Apples are pretty hard, so add one cup of water. The process can take 30-40 minutes. If the apples are still hard by then, use the back of a ladle or a blender to mash them. After cooking, turn off the stove and let the puree cool.
- Strain the apple puree; Put a strainer on the top of a pot. Empty the cooked apples into the strainer. Using your hand or a spoon, add pressure and claw the apples until the skin comes off of the fleshy parts of the apple and results in a thick puree.
- Put the puree on the stove again; If your puree is too watery, cook it again until the extra water evaporates and you get the proper thickness. In this stage, leave the lid open and constantly stir the contents so that they don't burn on.
- Add sugar or salt; Before turning the stove off, test the puree’s flavor. Add some sugar or salt. The amount depends on your preference. For 2 kilogram of sweet apple, add 1 tablespoon of salt. If you’ve used sour apples, you can add one spoon of sugar to balance the taste.
- Turn the stove off and let the puree cool.
- Spread the puree on a tray covered with parchment paper, smoothen the surface.
- Put the tray under the sun or in the oven for the drying process.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You can peel the apples at first and skip the sieving step.
- You can cook the apples without peeling the skin off, then use a blender instead of sieving them.
- You can combine yellow apple with sour apple.
- Clean the back of the strainer.
How are Apple Leathers dried?
After cooking the puree and spreading it on a tray, you should immediately start the drying process. You can dry your fruit leather using these methods:
- A food dehydrator: Baked puree is spread on the device to dry up.
- Putting it in the oven: Cover the oven tray with parchment paper and spread the puree on it. Leave the tray in the oven for 3-4 hours with the heat set on low.
- Putting the tray under the sun: This is a common method in Iran. You will not need parchment paper, a piece of plastic for the tray will suffice.
As you can see in the pictures in this recipe, I dried my fruit leathers in the oven. I have explained the methods of drying fruit leathers in “how to make lavashak” post. To do this, set the oven to its lowest temperature (110 degrees). Cover the oven tray with parchment paper. Spread the apple puree on it. Leave the tray in the oven for 3-4 hours.
Keep in mind not to fully close the oven door. Fruit leather is delicate and thin; it can burn quickly. Leave the oven door ajar. When you touch the fruit leather and nothing sticks to your hand, it means it’s ready. Do not overheat it.
You can leave it in the open air after taking it out of the oven for further drying in case it’s still wet in some parts.
How to store Apple Fruit Leathers?
If the fruit leather is thoroughly dried, it does not mold, so you can keep it in a cool and dry place for a month. You can cut it into strips and keep them in a closed container in the refrigerator.
You can also keep the fruit leathers in a sealed plastic bag with little to no air and keep them outside the fridge.
Leaving fruit leathers in the open air can dry them up excessively and make chewing difficult.
What does apple fruit leather taste like?
The taste of your fruit leather depends on the fruit of your choice. If you use sour apples, you will have sour fruit leather.
If your apples are sweet, you can use salt and sugar to make the fruit roll-up sweet-and-sour. If you want sour apple leather, you can use a little bit of citric acid too.
Conclusion:
Apple leather is one of the most popular fruit leathers in the world, especially if the apples are baked, and taste sweet-and-sour with some salt and sugar. Apples are beneficial and rich in nutrients. You can also use crabapple to make delicious fruit leathers.
I have shared recipes for kiwi fruit leather and peach fruit roll-ups as well. Try them, I believe your kids will love these snacks!
