Drying

Fruit Leathers

Fruit leathers are homemade fruit rolls. They are a tasty chewy, dried fruit product. Fruit leathers are
made by pouring pureéd fruit onto a flat surface for drying. When dried, the fruit is pulled from the
surface and rolled. It gets the name "leather" from the fact that when pureéd fruit is dried, it is shiny
and has the texture of leather.

The advantages of making your own fruit leathers are to save money use less sugar and to mix fruit
flavors. Leftover fruit pulp from making jelly can be blended and made into fruit rolls.

For the diabetic adult or child, fruit leathers made without sugar are a healthy choice for snacks or
desserts. Individual fruit leathers should contain the amount of fruit allowed for the fruit exchange.

Directions follow for making fruit leathers. Fresh, frozen or drained canned fruit can be used. Leathers
From Fresh Fruit

 Select ripe or slightly overripe fruit.

 Wash fresh fruit or berries in cool water. Remove peel, seeds and stem.

 Cut fruit into chunks. Use 2 cups of fruit for each 13" x 15" inch fruit leather. Pureé fruit until
smooth.

 Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or 1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid (375 mg) for each 2 cups light
colored fruit to prevent darkening.

 Optional: To sweeten, add corn syrup, honey or sugar. Corn syrup or honey is best for longer
storage because it prevents crystals. Sugar is fine for immediate use or short storage. Use ¼
to ½ cup sugar, corn syrup or honey for each 2 cups of fruit. Saccharin-based sweeteners
could also be used to reduce tartness without adding calories. Aspartame sweeteners may lose
sweetness during drying.

Leathers From Canned or Frozen Fruit

o Home preserved or store-bought canned or frozen fruit can be used.

o Drain fruit, save liquid.

o Use 1 pint of fruit for each 13" X 15" leather.

o Purée fruit until smooth. If thick, add liquid.

o Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or 1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid (375 mg) for each 2
cups of light colored fruit to prevent darkening.

o Applesauce can be dried alone or added to any fresh fruit pureé as an extender. It
decreases tartness and makes the leather smoother and more pliable.

Preparing the Trays

For drying in the oven a 13" X 15" cookie pan with edges works well. Line pan with plastic
wrap being careful to smooth out wrinkles. Do not use waxed paper or aluminum foil.
To dry in a dehydrator, specially designed plastic sheets can be purchased or plastic trays can
be lined with plastic wrap.

Pouring the Leather

Fruit leathers can be poured into a single large sheet (13" X 15") or into several smaller sizes.
Spread pureé evenly, about 1/8-inch thick, onto drying tray. Avoid pouring pureé too close to
the edge of the cookie sheet. The larger fruit leathers take longer to dry. Approximate drying
times are 6 to 8 hours in a dehydrator, up to 18 hours in an oven and 1 to 2 days in the sun.

Drying the Leather

Dry fruit leathers at 140ºF. Leather dries from the outside edge toward the center. Test for
dryness by touching center of leather; no indentation should be evident. While warm, peel
from plastic and roll, allow to cool and rewrap the roll in plastic. Cookie cutters can be used to
cut out shapes that children will enjoy. Roll, and wrap in plastic.

Chances are the fruit leather will not last long enough for storage. If it does, it will keep up to
1 month at room temperature. For storage up to 1 year, place tightly wrapped rolls in the
freezer.

Spices, Flavors and Garnishes

To add interest to your fruit leathers, spices, flavorings or garnishes can be added.

Spices to Try — Allspice, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mace, mint, nutmeg or pumpkin
pie spice. Use sparingly, start with 1/8 teaspoon for each 2 cups of pureé.

Flavorings to Try — Almond extract, lemon juice, lemon peel, lime juice, lime peel, orange
extract, orange juice, orange peel or vanilla extract. Use sparingly, try 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon for
each 2 cups of pureé.

Delicious Additions to Try — Shredded coconut, chopped dates, other dried chopped fruits,
granola, miniature marshmallows, chopped nuts, chopped raisins, poppy seeds, sesame seeds
or sunflower seeds.

Fillings to Try — Melted chocolate, softened cream cheese, cheese spreads, jam, preserves,
marmalade, marshmallow cream or peanut butter. Spread one or more of these on the leather
after it is dried and then roll. Store in refrigerator.

This document was extracted from "So Easy to Preserve", 5th ed. 2006. Bulletin 989,
Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia, Athens. Revised by Elizabeth L.
Andress. Ph.D. and Judy A. Harrison, Ph.D., Extension Foods Specialists.
f stable food is not your thing, you should be pleased to hear that almost anything can be turned into
a jelly.
1. Jelly with Bompas & Parr

Buy the book

With a distinctly misguided spirit of adventure, we once created an entire Christmas dinner in one tall
and very wobbly striped jelly. There were layers of sprouts, parsnips, potatoes, stuffing, bread sauce
and, of course, turkey consommé studded with artfully positioned mini sausages and bacon rashers.
Once you can master this jelly Everest – it had jelly foothills made of champagne, burgundy, port and
sherry – you're qualified to jelly anything. At least, we like to think so.

To make a jelly, whether it's sweet or savoury, you need to combine two components: a liquid and
gelatine. At its most basic, the jelly recipe can be turned into a sum:

Liquid + Gelling Agent = Jelly

This principle will be expanded upon and explained in the next section. And by the time you are done
reading it, you will be able to turn any liquid into a jelly.

Step one: choose your mould

First fill your mould with water and pour this water back into a measuring jug. Knowing the volume of
liquid that you need to fill your mould allows you to calculate how much gelatine you will need. To get
you started, here's a good rule of thumb:

1 leaf of gelatine sets 100ml / 3½ fl oz of liquid

How simple is that! If you are setting the jelly in a glass and not planning on ummoulding it, use less
gelatine – see the table below for guidance. Use either platinum or gold leaf gelatine: it's readily
available in supermarkets. Powdered gelatine is actually harder to use and the results are not as
good. Using scissors, cut up each leaf of gelatine into about six pieces and put them in a heatproof
bowl. Use a measuring jug to mix up the required volume of liquid. This could be anything: fruit juice,
wine, even Irn Bru. There are plenty of recipes in the next chapter to get you started. Next, pour
some of this liquid over the gelatine so it is just covered. Leave to one side for at least 10 minutes, or
until the gelatine has softened.

Step two: melting the gelatine

 Melting the gelatine. Photograph: Chris Terry/Pavillion
Put some hot water in a small pan and bring it up to a slow simmer. Then place the bowl of softened
gelatine on top. Stir from time to time until the gelatine has dissolved. This should take about 10
minutes, but it can take longer if you are using milk as the liquid.

Step three: combining the gelatine with the mixture

Add the remaining liquid to the bowl of melted gelatine and give it a good stir. Then pour the
contents of the bowl through a sieve and back into the measuring jug. The sieve will catch any small
lumps of undissolved gelatine, and if you were using lemon juice it will catch the pips.

Pouring the unset jelly into a mould. Photograph: Chris Terry/Pavillion

Now slowly pour the unset jelly into your mould. If there are any air bubbles on the surface, skim
them off using a teaspoon. Otherwise, they will still be there when the jelly has set. Place the jelly in
the refrigerator, and about 6 hours later it will be set and ready for unmoulding.

Step four: unmoulding

Unmoulding the jelly Photograph: Chris Terry/Pavillion

Jellies come to life when they are unmoulded. The unmoulding process is theoretically
straightforward: put the jelly mould into a basin of warm water until a little of the jelly around the edge
has melted and then turn it out onto a plate.

It sounds easy, but there's real skill in judging the time the mould needs to be submerged in the
warm water. Sometimes you must be patient; on other occasions, it will unmould in a flash.
Depending on the thickness of the metal or plastic and the temperature of the water, it can take
between two seconds and 30 seconds for the jelly to release.
When you unmould directly onto a plate, the jelly will stick to the surface wherever it lands. To
prevent this, wet the plate before turning out the jelly. This allows you to reposition the jelly to the
plate's centre. If you've got this far, you're almost a jelly pro. Good work! If you are serving jelly for a
dinner party, you can unmould it in advance and leave it on its plate in the refrigerator, where it will
keep quite happily for several hours.

Conversion chart

Mould volume Unmoulding jelly Not unmoulding jelly

300ml / 10 fl oz 3 leaves gelatine 2.2 leaves gelatine
400ml / 14 fl oz 4 2.9
500ml / 18 fl oz 5 3.6
600ml / 1 pint 6 4.36
700ml / 1¼ pints 7 5
800ml / 28fl oz 8 5.7
900ml / 1½ pints 9 6.4
1 litre / 1¾ pints 10 7.1
Sugar syrup
Jelly straight from the refrigerator will be thoroughly chilled. Remember that the flavour of anything
cold is less obvious than something at room temperature. So when making jellies, the liquid you use
must be slightly sweeter than you want it finally to taste.

The best way of adding sugar to a juice is to use sugar syrup, which dilutes and sweetens the fruit
juice at the same time. It's a good idea to dilute fruit juice down before making it into a jelly;
otherwise, it will be more like jam.

If you want total control over the sweetness of any jelly in this book, use sugar syrup and omit any
other sugar from the recipe. And use a combination of syrup and water to make up the volume of the
fruit juice you're using.

Making sugar syrup is very easy and if you have some left over it's got plenty of other uses. It's the
best way to get sweetness into cocktails. By the same token it's handy for making iced coffee in the
summer. You can also use the syrup as the base for poaching fruit and adding sweetness to fruit
salads.

Makes 1kg / 2lb 4oz (about 750ml / 1⅓ pints).

500ml / 18 fl oz water
500g / 1lb 2oz caster or granulated sugar
Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan and take it off the heat. Then stir in the sugar until it has
dissolved. Easy!

Of course, if you don't think you will need this much syrup just adjust the volume of water and weight
of sugar proportionately at a ratio of 1:1 (1ml water to 1g sugar).
 If you have leftover syrup, it can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Blancmange jelly
For 500ml/18 fl oz blancmange

4 leaves of gelatine
100ml / 3½ fl oz water
1 tbsp caster sugar
Zest of ½ lemon
400 ml / 13½ fl oz whole milk
Gelatine-based blancmanges made with whole milk will set a little firmer than fruit jellies, so it's OK
to use a little less gelatine. This keeps the mouthfeel suitably soft.

Start by chopping the gelatine into a heatproof bowl and add the water, along with the sugar and the
lemon zest. Wait 10 minutes for the gelatine to soften and then heat over a pan of simmering water
until the gelatine has melted. It is possible to melt the gelatine in the milk but it takes a long time - so
it's easier to use water.

Once the gelatine has melted, add the milk to the bowl, stir to combine, and pass the lot through a
sieve and into a jug.

• This recipe is taken from Jelly with Bompas and Parr (Pavillion, £14.99)

Tips on Making Jams and Preserves

Sweet and sticky, most people today lump strawberry jam and
strawberry preserves together, thinking that they are the same thing. Well,
almost, but not quite.
Jams use mashed up fruit, while preserves use whole or large pieces of
fruit. Both of them, however, are easier and more economical to make than
jelly, since they are made of entire fruits instead of just the juice, and can
be good either thick or runny. Both are also delectable when homemade!

Here are some basic tips that you can follow to make your own jams and
preserves.

 Wash and remove the stems or cores, if any. Peel if necessary;

cherries and berries do not require peeling; fruit like pears and peaches
 do. Remember: for jams, cut up or mash the fruit; for preserves, use
whole or cut into large chunks.
 Make jam or preserves in small batches because this way, the fruit
will cook quickly and the color and flavor will be better preserved.
 For every cup of fruit you use, add 3/4 cup of sugar. For example,
four cups of fruit makes a very manageable batch, so you would need 3
cups of sugar per batch—unless otherwise specified by the recipe.
 If you are using ripe or particularly sweet fruit, add 1-2 tablespoons
of lemon juice. The acid from the lemon juice will help the jam or
preserve thicken.
 Scorching is more likely to happen to jams and preserves, so in order
to avoid that dilemma, stir your mixture often for 15-40 minutes,
depending on the fruit. Scorching can ruin a otherwise delicious jam or
preserve, but is very easy to prevent.
 To test your jam or preserve to see if it's done, take a spoonful out
of your kettle, and if it holds its shape after about a minute, your jam or
preserve is ready to jar.
For help translating a pound of fruit to the number of cups needed, see our
Measuring Fruits chart (in Related Articles above).

Recommended Processing Time

For hot-pack jams in half-pint or pint jars without added pectin in a boiling-water container:

Altitude 0-1,000 feet 1,001-6,000 feet Above 6,000 feet

5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes

Processing Time
Give a homemade gift from your own kitchen. Cover the top with a circle of
fabric that is 2 inches larger than the jar top. Secure it with several turns of
a fine gold cord or ribbon.

Jam and Preserves Recipes

Now that you are a little bit more familiar with the art of jam and preserve-
making, try your hand at these award-winning jam recipes from The 1983
Old Farmer's Almanacreader recipe contest.