red apple leather

I made my first homemade fruit leather ever. The recipe came from my Winter 2014 issue of Sweet Paul Magazine p. 45. Apples, lemon juice, and a small chunk of beet for red color. Store-bought fruit roll-ups? Check out this strawberry fruit roll-ups label. Where are the strawberries? And the deceiving color? It comes from red 40, yellow 5 & 6, and blue 1 dyes. As you can see in this blender container closeup of the partially combined mixture, a beet rapidly turns browned oxidized apple puree into a lovely rosy hue... a perfect alternative to synthetic dyes.

I would use a smaller chunk of beet next time. It's not that I tasted the beet. I didn't. I just think that a more vibrant red would be prettier. Maybe less beet would achieve that. What's up with the fruit leather's corrigated ridge pattern? I choose to line my dehydrator racks with natural parchment paper rather than using ParaFlexx sheets that have a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene-Teflon) coating. The wetness of the puree caused the parchment to mold to the shape of the metal racks. Did the puree soak through the parchment paper? No, not at all. Was the fruit leather difficult to peel off post dehydrating? No, the parchment released easily from the fruit leather.

Red Apple Leather

2 lbs apples (about 5 medium apples)

1 lemon, juiced

1 red beet (golf ball sized)

1 tbsp maple sugar, optional (I used coconut sugar, but I will try honey next.)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 225°F. (If using dehydrator, preheat to 135°F.) Peel, seed, and chop apples. (I will try unpeeled apples next.) Peel and chop the beet. In a food processor or blender, purée the apples and beet with the lemon juice until smooth. (For me, a blender worked better than my food processor.) Blend in the sugar, spices, and salt. Divide the purée in half and spread it in an even layer ¼” thick onto two parchment lined baking sheets. The purée rectangles will end up being about 9x14 and will not completely fill the sheet. (Or, if using a dehydrator, cut two pieces of parchment paper the size of your dehydrator’s shelves and place the papers directly onto shelves in the dehydrator.) Bake the leather in the oven until it is dry to the touch, about 1 ½ - 2 hours, rotating the pans halfway through. Turn off the oven and allow the leather to cool completely inside. (If using a dehydrator, drying takes about 5 hours.) Peel the leather off the parchment and cut it into strips with a scissors (or knife). Roll the strips in waxed paper (cut into widths just a fraction larger than the fruit leather).