Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Flashback to my youth…

When I was younger, my mom had a dehydrator and she use to make us things on it all the time.  Our favorite being fruit leathers, which are a homemade version of a fruit roll-up.  So a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling nostalgic and remembered those things and then proceeded to convince Nathan to let me buy a dehydrator.  And I been going crazy with these things ever since!

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Above you see, grape, pineapple-pear, and grape-pineapple.  I’ve also made pina colada, strawberry-banana, and strawberry-pineapple.  And there are lots more that I am planning to try.  And it is not just me that is loving these things!

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Layton can’t get enough of them.  Dallin and Nathan love them too.  Even picky Mandy likes the strawberry flavored ones.  And the best part – they are actually good for you.  They are made using the whole fruit pureed.  And for the most part, I haven’t even needed to add sugar.  Only a couple of them have needed a tablespoon or so of extra sweetening.  They are so yummy!  I feel like a kid again eating them!

5 comments:

Kelly said...

ooooo they look and sound like HEAVEN! I bet the kids are loving it that would be a HUGE hit at my house! Wish I could come nibble on a lil of your fruit roll ups and that cute lil boy!

Stacy Pettersen said...

How much does a dehydrator cost and where do you buy one? I buy the fruit strips to feel a little healthier (it's mostly apple juice concentrate but better than high fructose corn syrup), but that sounds awesome!

Becky Shuler said...

I've got a dehydrator! How long does it take to make the fruit leathers? Have you got recipes? Instructions? Mema

Ilene said...

I didn't see any recipes for the fruit leathers? Are you keeping those all to yourself? Sounds YUM!

Katheryn said...

Stacy - I bought it from Amazon, it was $55.

Aunt Beck - It takes about 12 hours (sometimes more) to dehydrate.

AB/Ilene - I don't really follow a recipe per say. I usually use an apple or 1/2 cup of applesauce as a base and then just throw in whatever kind of fruit. You can use fresh or canned (just make sure if it is canned fruit that you get the kind packed in juice) or even frozen (though you'll need to thaw it first and let some of the liquid drain off). For the size of my dehydrator, I need around 2-1/2 cups of pureed fruit to fill one tray. After I puree the fruit, I just taste it and then decide if it needs a little sweetening. You can use corn syrup, regular sugar, honey, agave syrup or whatever you want to sweeten it.