1 year, 7 months ago
What is fruit leather?
I found a werewolf cupcake recipe that I want to make for Halloween. It calls for red fruit leather to make the werewolves' mouths, but I do not know what this is, much less where to get it. At first, I thought it might be red Fruit Roll Ups, but after looking more closely at the picture in the recipe, I am not so sure.
Can anyone tell me what fruit leather is and where I might be able to find some?
Here is the recipe that I am making: http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/cupcakes/dh/werewolf-cupcakes#reviews
Can anyone tell me what fruit leather is and where I might be able to find some?
Here is the recipe that I am making: http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/cupcakes/dh/werewolf-cupcakes#reviews
images:
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M$3 Answers
How to Make Fruit Leather
OPEN QUOTE
Ingredients
Fresh fruit (apricots, peaches, plums, berries, apples, pears, grapes)
Water
Lemon juice
Sugar (if needed)
Spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg (optional)
Method
1 Rinse the fruit. If you working with stone fruit, take out the pits, chop the fruit. If working with apples or pears, peel and core them, then chop. If working with grapes, de-stem them.
Taste the fruit before proceeding. Note how sweet the fruit is. If very sweet (ripe Concord grapes for example) you will not need to add any sugar. If still a little tart, you may need to add some sugar in the next step.
2 Place fruit in a large saucepan. Add a half cup of water for every 4 cups of chopped fruit. Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through. Uncover and stir. Use a potato masher to mash up the fruit in the pan. Taste the fruit and determine what and how much sugar, lemon juice, or spices to add. Add sugar in small amounts (1 Tbsp at a time if working with 4 cups of fruit), to desired level of sweetness. Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time to help brighten the flavor of the fruit. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices to augment the flavor.
Continue to simmer and stir until any added sugar is completely dissolved and the fruit purée has thickened, another 5 or 10 minutes (or more).
Note if you are working with grapes - strain the juice out of the mashed grapes to make grape juice. Force what is left behind, after straining, through a food mill, to make the purée for the next step.
3 Put the purée through a food mill or chinoise. Alternatively purée it thoroughly in a blender or food processor. Taste again and adjust sugar/lemon/spices if necessary. The purée should be very smooth.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/photos/fruit-leather-3.jpg
4 Line a rimmed baking sheet with sturdy plastic wrap (the kind that is microwave safe). Pour out the purée into the lined baking sheet to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/photos/fruit-leather-4.jpg
5 Place the baking sheet in the oven, try to keep any plastic wrap from touch the sides of the oven or the oven racks. Also try to make sure that the plastic wrap hasn't folded back over on top of the purée. If this happens, the purée won't dry out. Heat the oven to a low 140°F. If you have a convection setting, use it, it will speed up the process and help dry out the purée. Let dry in the oven like this for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather. We usually keep it in the oven overnight, so about 8-12 hours. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky, but has a smooth surface.
Alternatives to the oven. If you have a food dehydrator, this would be a great use of it. My mother suggested putting the tray in the weber grill, and leaving covered, in the sun all day. Sounds like a good trick, but I haven't tried it yet. My parents remember the traditional way of making fruit leather was just to tent the tray with some cheesecloth and leave it outside in the sun on a hot day.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/photos/fruit-leather-2.jpg
6 When the fruit leather is ready, you can easily peel it up from the plastic wrap. To store it, roll it in its plastic wrap, put it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
4 cups of fruit yield about one baking sheet of fruit leather.
END QUOTE
Other related articles
Fruit Leathers -- Fun and Easy
Yes, you can purchase them at you local grocery store if you don't to make them
Fruit leather rolls -->
http://www.nutsonline.com/images/departments/351.jpg
Fruit leather -->
http://www.nutsonline.com/images/departments/350.jpg
OPEN QUOTE
Ingredients
Fresh fruit (apricots, peaches, plums, berries, apples, pears, grapes)
Water
Lemon juice
Sugar (if needed)
Spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg (optional)
Method
1 Rinse the fruit. If you working with stone fruit, take out the pits, chop the fruit. If working with apples or pears, peel and core them, then chop. If working with grapes, de-stem them.
Taste the fruit before proceeding. Note how sweet the fruit is. If very sweet (ripe Concord grapes for example) you will not need to add any sugar. If still a little tart, you may need to add some sugar in the next step.
2 Place fruit in a large saucepan. Add a half cup of water for every 4 cups of chopped fruit. Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through. Uncover and stir. Use a potato masher to mash up the fruit in the pan. Taste the fruit and determine what and how much sugar, lemon juice, or spices to add. Add sugar in small amounts (1 Tbsp at a time if working with 4 cups of fruit), to desired level of sweetness. Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time to help brighten the flavor of the fruit. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices to augment the flavor.
Continue to simmer and stir until any added sugar is completely dissolved and the fruit purée has thickened, another 5 or 10 minutes (or more).
Note if you are working with grapes - strain the juice out of the mashed grapes to make grape juice. Force what is left behind, after straining, through a food mill, to make the purée for the next step.
3 Put the purée through a food mill or chinoise. Alternatively purée it thoroughly in a blender or food processor. Taste again and adjust sugar/lemon/spices if necessary. The purée should be very smooth.
4 Line a rimmed baking sheet with sturdy plastic wrap (the kind that is microwave safe). Pour out the purée into the lined baking sheet to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
5 Place the baking sheet in the oven, try to keep any plastic wrap from touch the sides of the oven or the oven racks. Also try to make sure that the plastic wrap hasn't folded back over on top of the purée. If this happens, the purée won't dry out. Heat the oven to a low 140°F. If you have a convection setting, use it, it will speed up the process and help dry out the purée. Let dry in the oven like this for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather. We usually keep it in the oven overnight, so about 8-12 hours. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky, but has a smooth surface.
Alternatives to the oven. If you have a food dehydrator, this would be a great use of it. My mother suggested putting the tray in the weber grill, and leaving covered, in the sun all day. Sounds like a good trick, but I haven't tried it yet. My parents remember the traditional way of making fruit leather was just to tent the tray with some cheesecloth and leave it outside in the sun on a hot day.
6 When the fruit leather is ready, you can easily peel it up from the plastic wrap. To store it, roll it in its plastic wrap, put it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
4 cups of fruit yield about one baking sheet of fruit leather.
END QUOTE
Other related articles
Fruit Leathers -- Fun and Easy
Yes, you can purchase them at you local grocery store if you don't to make them
Fruit leather rolls -->
Fruit leather -->
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Fruit leather is that dried fruit snack that you can find in any grocery store. For the wolf tongues, you would want the raspberry fruit leather. You can make it yourself using the recipe from ladybug_conundrum, but I would just buy some of the fruit leathers you can get in the stores. The cupcakes look GREAT!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
This is what I found out about Fruit Leather. It is packed with Nutrition,Vitamins and Supplements. It is like fruit roll ups and they can be purchased at the grocery stores. Being that you are going to need a lot for your party I found a site where you can purchase bigger amounts than you would get at the store.
http://www.nextag.com/is-fruit-leather/stores-html?nxtg=6aac0a500509-8DCD965B769D91C1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastbeanburrito/2102102250/
http://www.nextag.com/is-fruit-leather/stores-html?nxtg=6aac0a500509-8DCD965B769D91C1
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Aha! Thanks @girlieq3000. I was unsure of what the difference was exactly. These cupcakes probably already are mostly sugar (cake, frosting, marshmallows, m&ms), so the difference may not matter a whole lot in this instance, but it is still good to know what they are talking about here.
This recipe is from the Duncan Hines website. Since Duncan Hines is a direct competitor of Betty Crocker, which is also the brand that makes Fruit Roll Ups, I thought maybe they just didn't want to name Fruit Roll Ups on their website. But I guess there really is a difference.
I am still going to try the fruit leather snacks that you recommended and maybe the recipe for a healthy alternative to regular fruit snacks on everyday occasions.
No. Fruit roll ups are basically just sugar. Fruit to Go is actually pureed fruit, they're MUCH thicker and tougher, and they actually taste like fruit. If you've never had it, it's quite similar to what a dried apricot tastes and feels like, but with less moisture and a thicker skin.
But since it's just for decoration on a cupcake, I don't think there would be any issue with using fruit roll ups, or any other candy for that matter!
Hmm...So do you think that Fruit Roll Ups would be about the same thing?
The most common ones here are called Fruit to Go bars at the grocery store!