How To Make Fruit Leather

This time of year tends to lean toward craziness. With the school year winding down, the calendar is full of activities that have my family on the run most days. I love all the activity of ball games, practices and school programs, but it does become difficult to keep up with the demands of the family, job and house.

It forces me to be a bit more organized, planning meals and making sure I have snacks on hand to grab as we run out the door. I love using fresh fruit that is in season to make fruit leather (homemade roll-ups anyone,). It requires a bit of time, but I assure you it is worth it.

By using strawberries, what is in season right now, gives the leather an extra bit of natural sweetness. Feel free to substitute with other berries and fruits. This is an easy snack to have for when you are on the go, or for an extra special lunchbox treat. Why give your kids fake fruit leather with loads of sugar and artificial colors, Whipping these up takes no time and the oven does the rest.

My boys love this homemade version of the fake fruit roll-ups. Don’t have fresh fruit, If you don’t want strawberry seeds, pass the pureed berries through a colander first. Don’t pour too thin of a layer or you’ll have fruit crisps instead of fruit leather-pour it too thick and it will take longer to leather.

Start checking it after 4 hours. If you leave it in too long again…fruit crisps. 1. Preheat oven to 150 - 200 degrees -depends how low your oven can go. 2. In a medium saucepan, on low heat, cook the strawberries until they are soft and juices are released. Add honey and stir until combined.

3. Pour berries into food processor and puree. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 4. Pour berry mixture onto parchment lined pan. 5. Put in oven and bake for 4-6 hours, until leather peels away easily from the parchment. Using scissors cut into rectangles and roll them up, parchment and all. Note: oven temperatures and baking time will vary. Have you ever wanted to make your own granola,

Like I have done you may be able to set up delivery points with a couple of farmers to add a little bit of convenience. Finding high quality organic food close to your home is not as difficult as it sounds. The bottom line is look for farmers who are practicing sound organic farming principles and are producing small amounts of food.

Of course drinking more water will relieve a variety of ills in most cases. The Kangan company which sells a machine to break down water into acid or alkaline phases, has some studies showing that it is beneficial. There was a Korean study that found electrolyzed-reduced water inhibits acute ethanol-induced hangovers in rats, presuming that it scavenged free-radical particles.

However their control used distilled water which isn’t healthy. Lots of the studies pair the reduced water with other substances. But there seems to be potentially something there. Whether it beats baking soda in water is unknown. Or for that matter vinegar in water. Both acid and alkalies in water are active physiologically.