Tuesday, February 22, 2011

In The Kitchen: Peach, Tangerine & Kumquat Fruit Leather



Lemon Bird Jams are some of the best jams I've ever had...though I rarely use them in the traditional jam-on-toast style. Often they become part of a marinade or glaze for meats, the flavoring for a vinaigrette, added to a fruit smoothie, stirred into chocolate fondue, or in the case of the recipe I am sharing below, an excellent addition to homemade fruit leather!



Peach, Kumquat & Tangerine Fruit Leather
  • 6 ripe, sweet peaches - skin removed & roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup honey (I use local wildflower honey)
  • 1/4 cup Kumquat & Tangerine with Vanilla Jam
  • 3 tablespoons water
Preheat your oven at its lowest setting (in my case, this is 160) and line a large rimmed baking sheet or two smaller sheets with parchment paper. Mix all of the ingredients together in a food processor or blender until you have a very smooth puree. Pour your puree onto the parchment-covered baking sheet(s) and smooth out with a spatula so you have an even layer about 1/4 inch thick. Bake your puree in the oven overnight (or about 8-10 hours...if it's still not finished by then flip it over onto another piece of parchment, remove the first sheet of parchment, and bake another couple hours until dry but still pliable). You now have delicious, homemade fruit leather!

Slice into bars with a sharp knife, use a cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes or stand in the kitchen eating directly from the giant sheet of fruit leather like an animal (I may be guilty of this)...either way, be sure to store these with parchment in between so they don't stick together!

This fruit leather has no preservatives aside from natural sugars so it only keeps for about a week in an airtight container at room temperature, but will keep indefinitely in the fridge.