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This is a How-To for Fruit Leather. I can’t call something with just 2 ingredients a recipe. It’s so easy. Funny enough, this was actually the result of a blunder.
My mom cuts her gazillions of plums in half and dries them in the sun to make prunes. She starts off by baking them on low heat for a short time. That short time turned into a long time, which “ruined” a huge batch of plums. Mom decided to try something new. I know it’s not an original concept but she really did discover how to make fruit leather by mistake. It was a hit, especially with the kiddos! We re-created it again with our own plums.
Update: this year we made apricot fruit leather and it was amazing and we documented the process along with a sunshine drying method here.
Ingredients for Plumb Fruit Leather:
7 lb plums (around 5 quarts bowl)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
How to Make Plum Fruit Leather Rolls:
1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Wash, cut in half and pit the plums.
2. Lay halved plums out on rimmed cookie sheets with cut side up and place in the oven for 20 min. If plums are smaller in size, set a timer for 15 min and check every 5 minutes to avoid burning the plums.
3. After 20 minutes, remove plums from the oven and let them cool.
4. Using blade attachment in the food processor, blend plums until smooth and pour finished mixture into a large bowl.
5. Add 3/4 cup of granulated white sugar to blended plums and stir well. Add more sugar to taste if needed.
6. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper covering the walls of the baking sheet as well. Pour the purée into the lined baking sheets to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. We filled 3 baking dishes that fit on 2 levels in the oven together.
7. Let dry in the oven for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather, about 6-8 hours, more or less depending on the thickness of your fruit leather.
There are several ways to dry this out:
(1). If your oven has a low heat setting at 140˚ F: Heat the oven to low 140°F. Place the baking sheets with purée in the oven on the two racks placed as much in the center as possible.
(2) Our oven preheats to 170˚ F so we kept the oven door slightly open by putting a wooden spoon in the door. If you have a convection setting available, use it to speed up the process.
(3) If you don’t want to prop the oven door open and your lowest setting is 170˚ F, preheat to 170˚ F, then turn the oven off and leave the door closed completely and reheat it after an hour; repeat as necessary until it dries out.
(4) My mom let it dry in the sun for 2 days. You may also use a food dehydrator.
Keep in mind, the goal is for the fruit leather to dry out, not cook. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky and has a smooth surface.
8. When the fruit leather is ready, you can use a pizza cutter to cut fruit leather into srips. To store it, roll it in its parchment paper, put it in an airtight container or ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Have you tried fruit leather with any other fruit?
How to Make Plum Fruit Leather
Ingredients
- 7 lb plums, around 5 quarts bowl
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Wash, cut in half and pit the plums. Lay halved plums out on rimmed cookie sheets with cut side up and place in the oven for 20 min. Check every 5 minutes to avoid burning the plums.
- After 20 minutes, remove plums from the oven and let them cool. Using blade attachment in the food processor, blend plums until smooth and pour finished mixture into a large bowl.
- Add 3/4 cup sugar to blended plums and stir well. Add more sugar to taste if needed. Than line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper covering the walls of the baking sheet as well. Pour the purée in to about an 1/8" to 1/4" thickness.
- Let dry in the oven for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather, about 6-8 hours, more or less depending on the thickness of your fruit leather.
There are several ways to dry this out:
- Heat the oven to low 140°F. Place the baking sheets with purée in the oven on the two racks placed as much in the center as possible.
- If the lowest setting on the oven is 170°F, than preheat to 170°. Turn the oven off and leave the door closed completely and reheat it after an hour; repeat as necessary until it dries out. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky and has a smooth surface.
I was really excited to try this recipe. Unfortunately in my oven it didnt work well. It was quite watery for many hours and than suddenly it was too dry. It taste bitter. My daughter refuses to eat it. Good I didnt have enough trays, so I put some mixture to the freezer. So she loves to eat it frozen. Next time, when I have too much fruit I better do more jam 🙂
Hi Katerina, Did you possibly increase the temperature before it dried out? I’m not sure why it would taste bitter unless it was burned or maybe the plum variety possibly if the skins on your plums are bitter? That is my best guess.
I love this recipe, but was wondering what the nutrition facts are?
Due to time constraints, I don’t typically include nutritional info, but check out this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you Aakaash!
After baking the plums, they left a pretty purple on the baking mat. After blending though they turned ugly brown. Any idea why? Is it my variety of plum? I loved your finished product color!
Hi Sara, Hmm… I haven’t seen that with the plums I have. I suspect it is probably the type of plum.
Sounds like a good snack, but I don’t really like plums can you substitute with other fruits?
Jordyn, yes you can substitute with many other fruits like 🍑, apricot and others.
This worked out really well! I halved the amount of plums (3.5 lbs) and did about 3/4 cup sugar, still. They actually taste great! They are sweet and tangy. Thanks for the “how-to instructions”!
You’re welcome, Leslie! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I made fresh Santa Rosa plum fruit leather then layered it with chocolate bars and chopped nuts, in an 8×8 pan lined with parchment (chocolate, chopped nuts, fruit leather, chopped nuts, chocolate). Heated it on a low setting for 15 or 20 minutes to melt the chocolate. Removed it from oven and let cooI, then sliced it into 1×2 inch pieces, then wrapped each in plastic wrap. They made amazing candy bites. Fresh ripe plums, have remarkable flavor that when concentrated into leather pairs perfect with nuts and chocolate. Another idea is to dip slices of fruit leather into melted chocolate, roll in chopped nuts and let set on parchment. Use as gifts. Tastes as good or better than Sees candy!
Bonnie, thank you so much for sharing that with us, I’m drooling right now just imagining all the flavors in my mouth 😋.
Hey Natasha,
I would like to try this recipe and have a question: Why do you pre-bake the plums in the oven? Can I skip this step?
Thanks,
Elena
Hi Elena, it is an important step, otherwise the texture and color of the fruit leather isn’t quite right. I’ve tried both ways and pre-baking produces much better results.
Made this today, delicious! A couple of questions…I noticed your apricot leather recipe states to bake at 200 degrees for slightly less time, would that work for this recipe? Also, does it matter if it’s stored in an air tight container on the counter or in the fridge? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, you can also do this one at 200 for slightly less time. It’s a nice shortcut 🙂 We store this in foodsaver bags (airtight), but you can also store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
This is a yummy and easy recipe, but I’m wondering, what is the secrets to getting the parent paper off once you are done in the oven? This is my first time making fruit leather and I had a terrible time Trina to get the parchment off afterward. Thanks 🙂
Are you certain it was parchment paper and not wax? I haven’t had any issues with parchment paper sticking unless it was under-dried or once when we forgot about it, it over-dried and was a little tough to get it off.
Can I leave out th sugar? I’m wondering if you need it to make them set up.
Hi Eva, I think that would be fine if your plums are sweet enough to your liking. 🙂
Yay! We have about 100+ pounds of pluerries this year (after 70# last year) and are looking for new and healthy things to do with them. We are going to try without sugar. And, because it’s so hot here in San Diego, we’re going to try the outdoor with screen method since it seems to have worked for several others. Thank you for the idea.
Wow! That’s awesome! I hope you love this recipe!
How long do these last in an air right container before going bad? Have you ever tried to freeze them?
Thank you
Hi Jennifer, we have them in food saver bags and we haven’t tested the limits on them yet but it’s been a month or so and they are still great :). I haven’t tried freezing them but from what I’ve read, it’s ok to refrigerate or freeze fruit leather.
Hello! I want to try make this plum leather recipe but the skin on my plums is quite hard and sour even though the inside is ripe and very sweet. Should I still leave the skin on or would you peel it off before or after putting it in the oven? Thanks:)
Luvenya, I would leave the skin on. A good blender would take care of it. You might have to play with the sugar ratio to make sure it’s sweet to your liking. Let me know how it turns out 😄.
I made the plum leather leaving the skin on and it turned out great! They were very ripe and had a lot of liquid in them so it took three times as long to dry them but it was a yummy and easy way to use up a lot of plums! Thanks for replying so fast:)
Hey Natasha. I want to make these and I have a ton of frozen strawberries and was wondering if I can use them for this recipe. If yes, once thawed, do I have to cut them in half and then bake them? If so at what temperature and for how long?
Please reply as soon as possible. Thanks in advance😊
Hi Alena, with strawberries you don’t have to pre-bake, just blend them with sugar and strain if you want to get rid of the seeds, or leave them in. I haven’t tried with frozen strawberries but I assume it would work the same way, just thaw before blending.
We have a plum tree so I will for sure make these for the grandkids
That’s wonderful! It’s so nice to have your own fruit trees. I hope you and your grandkids all love the fruit leather 🙂
Make sure your oven is clean before you dry them!
I got three trays that taste like burnt pepperoni.
They are not pleasant.
Oh man that’s a bummer! Yes a clean oven is always a good idea, but I’ve never had my food take on the taste of something that was previously in the oven though.
I am trying this today with maple syrup instead of sugar – fingers crossed!
Hi Lori, I think it should work but you will want to let it dry out longer since you are adding a more liquid to the mix. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hello Natasha,
My fruit leather got stuck to the parchment paper completely, so I had to trash the whole batch. What was the mistake? poor quality of parchment paper?
Thank you
Hi Viktoriya, are you certain it was parchment paper and not wax paper? Also, one great way to tell if it’s done or not is if it sticks. If I find mine is sticky, I put it back in the oven until it’s no longer sticky. Bake time can vary based on how thick you made the fruit leather. I hope that helps for next time!! 🙂
Hi! This looks delicious!
Whay do we have to cook the plums?
Would that be good if we didn’t?
How long can we keep it the fridge or the freezer?
Thanks!
Hi! Yes the texture of the fruit leather is better if you bake the plums. They also blend more readily.
Is this recipe for any kind of fruit?
Hi Amie, Yes it would work for other stone fruits and probably even berries but your sugar to fruit ratio may be different and I’d recommend adding it to taste. Also, some fruits are juicier than others so it may take longer to dehydrate them in the oven.
This looks delicious, we have purple gage plums that I would like to try this with! If I use the sunshine drying method, what do I do with the pans at night? Refrigerate, or just leave out? Thanks!
Hi Megan, we leave them out but cover to keep any bugs away.
I love your recipe and have made it the last two years. My 5 y.o. daughter can’t wait for it and devours it when ready.
Question: the pits are too stuck to the interior fibers of the fruit. I slice twice, each side of pit making three pieces. I would love to cut once. Any suggestions for removing pit? I’m unsure of my variety, but are some easier to remove than others? Am I missing something?
Thank you!!
Hi Timon, it really depends on the plum variety. My mom has several in her yard and some are so difficult to remove that we just use those for things like juice to avoid pitting them 🙂 I hope you and your daughter love the fruit leather 🙂
It’s much more tastier and healthier without sugar! Let’s “learn” and “teach” to have things without it.
What variety of plums did you use without sugar? These would have been too tart without it.
I don’t have a food processor. Would a blender work to mix these up?
Blender should work as well 😀