Whenever a certain fruit is in season, I love to use fruit leather recipes because they last forever. Often called the beef jerky of fruit, fruit leather is easy to make and is an excellent way to preserve excess fruit when you find yourself with a lot. If you have any fruit trees on your property, you definitely know the feeling.
(PS if you have a food dehydrator – it is even easier!)
Method
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Start by preheating the oven to 65 degrees.
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Dump the fruit into a medium sized saucepan along with the lemon juice and the water. Bring to a low simmer over medium heat with the lid on but slightly askew. When the fruit becomes soft, take it off the heat.
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Pour the fruit mixture into a blender or food processor and blend it up until it's smooth. If the fruit has seeds, strain them out. Give it a taste now and see how sweet it is. If you need to, add the sugar until you're satisfied. Remember that when the fruit starts to dry it will become sweeter automatically as the water evaporates and the sugar becomes more concentrated.
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Now take a baking sheet and cover it with a layer of plastic (the oven isn't hot enough to melt the plastic). Brush the vegetable oil over the sheet, then pour the fruit mixture on top and spread it around with a spatula. The layer should be even and about 4-6 mm thick.
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Stick the sheet in the oven for 6-8 hours, making sure to allow air to circulate so the fruit doesn't scorch. On a sunny day, you could just stick it out in the sun for the same amount of time.
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Towards the end of the baking time, prepare another baking sheet the same way with plastic and vegetable oil. Remove the fruit tray and flip it over onto the second baking sheet, then bake it again for another 6-8 hours at the same heat. If it starts to get too hard, you can brush water over the top.
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Now let the tray cool and cut the fruit leather into smallish pieces. Give it a light dusting of cornflour so it doesn't stick, cover with plastic, and store in a dark, cool place.
