How to Make Plum Fruit Leather

When your plum tree gives you a bountiful harvest you can preserve the bounty many ways. Today we will create a wonderful plum snack for your family. This is a great way to use the peels from your other plum projects, rather than throwing them away, as well as extra plums which have been pitted and chopped. Ingredients Plums (whole and/or peelings left from other plum projects) approximately 10 cups 1 cup pure maple syrup. Or, about a cup of sugar, but only about ¾ of a cup of honey, will also do. Method Plum peelings from your other plum project as well as any extra plums you may have left over. Cut each whole plum in half and remove the pit. Place the plums and the peels in a large saucepan and cook on medium low until mushy, stirring often. (For my project it took about 2 hours to cook down) Remove some of the fruit juice to make other treats. You don't want this too wet on your dehydrator trays, but be careful, if the puree is too thick it will take forever to properly dehydrate. Add maple syrup, sugar or honey and stir well. With stick blender (or traditional blender in small batches) puree fruit until smooth. Ladle your puree on to your “fruit leather” trays and gently shake to spread. Then place each tray into your dehydrator and set the temp to 105 F. My dehydrator has a 15 hour timer and I always set it for the maximum time for fruit leathers. Check your trays after 5 hours of drying, and roughly every 4 to 6 hours after that to monitor progress. Check more frequently as drying progresses. Once the leathers seem dry to the touch, remove and turn it over so the bottom can dry as well. (I usually let them dry for another 5 hours so that my leather is well dried) Once dry, remove each tray from the dehydrator, and transfer the leather from your tray to a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper that has been lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar (also known as icing sugar). Lightly sprinkle the surface of your leather as well and roll with the paper into a long tube. I cut these tubes in halves or quarters with a serrated knife and store them in glass jars. You can also use a pizza cutter to make thin strips for a smaller treat. Please note if you or anyone in your family has problems with sugar intake, this recipe, when consumed in moderation, should not cause problems for most folks. My Mom, who has Type II Diabetes, eats these with no problems. Please note, I am not an expert in food preservation, health care, dehydrating, or even homesteading. I am just a woman who loves to put flavorful food on the table to feed her family. Enjoy!