We had several pounds of local peaches on hand, and they were starting to get a little too ripe for most purposes. Of course, this makes them perfect for making peach fruit leather.
I cleaned them up, cut them up, and placed them in the blender to create peach puree. Because these peaches were deliciously sweet, I didn’t add any sweetener.
While I need to get a little more consistent with the thickness of the puree on the drying sheets, they turned out well. Even the ones that were a little too crisp made yummy fruit leather sheets. (They wouldn’t roll.)
I rolled them up and placed them in ziploc baggies for storage. It’s nice knowing that these fruit leathers are made from organic, local peaches without any additives. Yum!
Peach Fruit Leather
Process:
- Clean the peaches and remove any spoiled parts. Cut the peach in halves or quarters and remove the pit. I left the skin on, but you could remove the skin if desired.
- Place the slices of peach in a high powered blender (I use a Blendtec.) or food processor. Add just enough water (if needed) to allow the blender to process the peaches. Blend until smooth.
- If your peaches are not sweet, you can add some honey at this point. Keep in mind that the fruit leather will be sweeter than the puree, so don’t over sweeten.
- Spread the puree 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch think on a lined dehydrator tray sheet. Make edges a little thicker than the middle as they will dry faster.
- Continue this process until you have used up all of your fruit or your dehydrator is full.
- Dry at 145 degrees F for 2 hours.
- Decrease heat to 115 degrees F for 6 to 12 hours until center is no longer wet and edges peal up easily.
- Tear/cut into sheets or strips to create rolls.
- Store in an airtight container.
