Here’s a very interesting idea from Gill:
Fruit Leather (Dehydrator Method)
I looked at different recipes to use up frozen redcurrants in my dehydrator (5 tray Excalibur) and came up with the following recipe. Most fruits can be used and mixed to taste and it’s good to experiment with different spices. The taste will intensify with cooking and dehydrating.
Redcurrant with Almond
5 lb Redcurrants
5 Tablespoons unrefined sugar or honey
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp lemon juice
500 g ground almonds
Method:
Put redcurrants, sugar and spices in a large pan, bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Take off the heat and stir in the ground almonds and lemon juice.
Blend until you get a smooth puree (I just used my hand blender).
Pour onto silicone mats or parchment paper (unwaxed), 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick leaving about an inch around the edges as it may spread.
Dehydrate for around 2 hours or until dry enough on top to flip over and gently peel off the parchment paper.
The fruit leather dries from the outside so continue dehydrating for 8-10 hours or overnight until it is slightly tacky but not sticky in the middle and looks shiny.
Roll up in the parchment paper.
I put the whole rolls in a plastic bag in the freezer, where it should keep for around a year, but it can be kept for a couple of months in an airtight jar or in the fridge.
(note: if using a fan oven reduce recipe as the above makes 5 trays and set oven to 140 farenheight –
remembering to flip the leather over when dry on top)