Dehydrating Nature’s Harvest To Make the Best Healthy Snacks

The chill of winter is slouching towards its glory. The harvest is in and will spoil if not preserved for later enjoyment. One of the best ways to preserve food is by drying it in a dehydrator

The grocery stores may be festive, but the prices are not, so let’s do our best to make our fruits and vegetables last longer.

It is really satisfying to enjoy something sweet and healthy, created with your own hands so that you know the quality of the ingredients. Fruit leathers are simple to make and great to taste.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are plentiful after the harvest in the fall, and this is the best time to get your favourite fruits and vegetables at the farmers markets. Try to buy produce in season.

Items needed:

• Dehydrator, Oven, or sunny Dry climate
• Dehydrator mats
• Fruit Leather trays
• Blender
• Parchment paper
• Cutting board
• Peelers and knives

I happen to have an ancient American Harvest Dehydrator, and if you have a newer model the principle is the same. Don’t worry if you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use the oven on a low setting, or if you are in a sunny location you can dried outdoors.

Preparing Nature’s Harvest for Dehydration

When you get your produce home, wash thoroughly then soak for 15 minutes in water with baking soda to remove preservatives and other agents on the surface, and wash again. A personal preference is produce that contains seeds. The hebalist, Dr. Sebi said,

Anything that comes without seed is artificial. Nature made everything with a seed, because life comes from life. Seedless fruit has no electricity, no minerals, no nourishment.” – Dr. Sebi

Buy fruit fit for purpose. If you are going to make fruit leather, then you can buy ripe softer produce to blend, if you are going to make chips then firmer fruits and vegetables are better.

Using a dehydrator is the easiest method as it is just a matter of spreading the foods on the trays, setting the temperature and checking for dryness accordingly.

Fruit Leathers

Fruit leather is created by the extraction of moisture to preserve the essence of the produce. The sugars in the dried fruit or vegetable aide the process and if there is not enough it can be added.

That is what fruit leather is, fabulous lunch box snack, a quick energy boost on a hike, or anytime.

These are very simple to make and delicious to eat. You can get creative and discover your own favourite flavours.

Pumpkin Spice Leather

This one is good for the fall when pumpkins are plentiful. Tip: You can roast a whole pumpkin with skin on as I did. It saves a lot of time and effort. When it is done the skin peels off easily, and you just scoop out the seeds, which you can save for roasting again with some salt. A canning jar lid,, if you have any, makes the job of scooping our the seed really easy.

Ingredients

4 cups of pumpkin puree
1 cup of apple sauce
Nutmeg to taste
Cinnamon to taste
Pinch of Cloves
Squeeze of lemon

Hint: I use apple sauce because the high pectin helps the hold everything together and a little lemon juice brings out the fruit flavour and gives the leather a brighter colour.

Blend all the ingredients and spread out 1/8 inch thick on trays. Dry at 120F for 4 to 6 hours, or until pliable and can be removed from the tray. Your machine setting is a guideline so you will have to test if you feel any stickiness or moisture at the end of the given time. In the oven for 6 to 8 hours, or in the sun for a day. Let it cool then wrap in wax paper and store in airtight jars.

Banana Raspberry Fruit Leather

2 /1/2 cups of raspberries
1 banana
Lemon juice to stop the discolouration of the bananas

Prepare the same as in the above method for the pumpkin puree.

If you have too much puree, save the puree for later by pouring it into a container and freezing until you are ready to use. Thaw first and spread on the trays.

Dried Pineapple

Peel and core one pineapple and cut into 1 inch slices.
Soak with lemon juice and honey then and space out the fruit on mats in the dehydrator at 115F for 24 hours or oven until dry. Check trays until the fruit is not sticky and completely dry. Place in airtight container.

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