http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ISHFU 3 February 2012 Dehydrated Fruit Leather.
The Excalibur Dehydrator was received,(3900W Excalibur Dehydrator-9 Tray Large White) and my first attempt at making fruit leather was undertaken. Fruit was purchased from the local Supermarket, since this is off season for my area. The fruit was washed and seeds removed. The desired parts were put through a Champion Juicer to remove as much liquid as possible. The portion for making the leather was homogenized using a hand blender, then spread evenly on the dehydrator trays., divided into portions, and sprayed with ascorbic acid to assist in retaining colour of the fruit.Fruit was placed in the Excalibur Dehydrator. The dehydrator set to 135F (57C)for 8 hours for a beginning.The liquid removed by the Champion Juicer is excellent.
After the top of the leather is dry, (about four hours) it is flipped over and placed on the more open sheet to facilitate drying. Drying is difficult,since there is no air movement on the underside of the leather. The upper most side was sprayed with ascorbic acid and water solution.
The fruit leather sheets are plastic supplied by the manufacturer of the dehydrator. I will get some parchment paper for experimenting when the next effort is undertaken. The leather drying sheet must be solid to prevent dripping of the thick liquid material, when first applied.
The finished product is slightly tart and is reasonably flexible.Time taken to dehydrate about eight hours. For longer term storage probably another two hours would make the slices completely dry.