This Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe is the perfect way to preserve bilberries for use later in the year. It can be reheated with a little water to turn back to a jam or pie filling or can be used as is as a fruit leather or jerky which is incredible as a mid-hike snack.
Cooking – 30 minutes
Until finishes – 6hrs
Makes a two large baking trays worth or 30 rolls
This Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe always reminds me of chewy sweets and is the perfect thing to take out on a long walk as a snack.
Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe – Well, What are Fruit Leathers Anyway?
Fruit leathers, sometimes referred to as fruit roll-ups, are a popular homemade snack made by pureeing fresh fruit and then slowly drying it to create a chewy, sweet treat.
They’re a fantastic way to use up an abundance of ripe fruit and are particularly loved by myself for their natural sweetness and concentrated fruity flavour. Fruit leathers are a great alternative to sugary snacks, offering a healthier option that’s packed with vitamins and fibre without any of the added preservatives found in many commercial snacks.
They’re an absolutely fantastic way to preserve wild fruit, especially when we experience the fruit glut that many do when either foraging or growing their own fruit, you can even mix and match fruit in there to make new interesting flavours and really work through the fruit gluts.
To make fruit leathers, the fruit is pureed and spread thinly on a baking tray or dehydrator sheet, then slowly dried at a low temperature until it becomes a leathery texture. Once dried, the fruit can be cut into strips and rolled up, making it easy to store and enjoy on the go. Popular fruits used for making leathers include apples, strawberries, raspberries, and plums, but you can get creative with any foraged fruit you have on hand.
There’s loads of dehydrators out there but this is the one I use when I make this Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe (we get no commission for anyone getting this one, I just like it)
One of the best things about fruit leathers is their long shelf life. When stored in airtight containers, they can last for several months, making them a handy snack to have on hand, especially when fresh fruit is out of season. They’re also incredibly versatile—you can mix different fruits together to create unique flavour combinations, or even add a hint of spice like cinnamon or ginger to make them more interesting.
Ingredients for this Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe:
You don’t need a mass of ingredients to cook our Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe, just 3 simple ingredients, very similar to making jam, however please feel free to chuck in whatever other fruit you have lying around, on the turn, a glut of or some you think may be nice.
- 500grams cooking apples, peeled and cored (cut them as you like, diced, quartered)
- 200grams bilberries (or 20 minutes bilberry collecting)
- 200grams jam sugar
Method:
Lets grab the pan out, peel some apples and get cooking this Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe
- Put the apples in a large pan and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, until it starts to mush down slightly, add the sugar and bilberries and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Put the whole lot in a blender and blitz until a smooth consistency is reached
- Boil this mixture until it starts to caramelise (usually around 30 minutes on a medium heat).
- Once you’ve reached this stage, pour this mixture in to two large non-stick dish (at least 30x20cms, it’s good to be spread thin so put in even more separate dishes if you have small ones – a thick spread in the tray will take forever to dry) with a lining of baking paper and place in your oven on 100C/200F/Gas mark 3. Leave the door of the oven slightly ajar and allow all of the liquid to evaporate from the mixture, I leave for 4 hours and then check how it feels – it should peel out of the tray easily and shouldn’t feel wet or overly sticky, if it is I leave it in another hour and try again (depending on how much liquid was in the initial ingredients this can take up to 10 hours).
Our Bilberry and apple fruit leather Recipe is pretty much finished. You should now be able to peel your fruit leather off your tray and can eat it straight away, or roll it up in the baking paper and store in the fridge or an airtight jar.
This is amazing preservation and should store for at least 1 yr in your jar.
Find our Bilberry Recipes right here
