Go Back
Tearing your apricot leather once it's cooled off and is ready to be rolled and stored in glass Mason jars.

Apricot Leather

The quickest way to make your apricots into a fruit leather that will store well, but won't last long because they're so delicious! A healthy treat you can feel good about with no added ingredients. This recipe makes six trays, which is one full batch in my dehydrator.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 12 hours
Total Time 12 hours 30 minutes
Serving Size 6 trays

Equipment

  • Dehydrator with Silicone Trays
  • Blender or Food Processor
  • Colander
  • Cutting Board
  • Paring Knife
  • Offset Spatula - Any spatula works, but I enjoy the ease of the offset spatula to smooth the apricots into the silicone trays
  • Scissors - Optional for cutting into even strips
  • Mason Jars or Air-Tight Container

Ingredients

  • 40-50 whole Apricots, fresh | In my experience, a mix of all stages of apricot works well, from slightly under-ripe to really ripe and juicy.

Instructions

Prep Work

  • Wash Apricots in Colander. Bring close to the blender, cutting board, and garbage can.
  • Remove pit from apricots by placing both thumbs into top of apricot and pulling to separate. If needed, cut any undesirable parts out with knife and cutting board.
  • Place apricots directly into blender. Once full with all the apricots for your batch, blend on medium speed for 45-60 seconds, or until smooth.
  • Fill silicone trays with apricot puree and smooth with a spatula until it's even and approimately ⅛-¼" thick.

Drying

  • Set all trays into the dehydrator (or oven) at 140℉ for 8 hrs (⅛" thick) or 10hrs (¼" thick) to see if the puree has dried.
  • If convenient, it doesn't hurt to check around 6 hrs (⅛" thick) or 8 hrs (¼" thick) to ensure fruit leather is not over-dried. To know the fruit leather is done, look for no indentation left in the middle of the tray after poking and a smooth surface. Sticky leather means it needs more time drying. Brittle leather that breaks easily when pulling off the tray means it was over-dried.
  • Once dried, let cool for 30-60 minutes until no longer warm.
  • Tear (or cut with scissors) into desired size of fruit leather pieces. Roll into small sections to be stored in Mason Jar or other air-tight container.
  • Eat within 1 month if kept on the shelf, or up to 1 year if wrapped tightly and stored in the freezer.

Notes

-If desired, avoid darkening of the apricot puree by mixing 2 tsp lemon juice OR 1/8 tsp (375 mg) ascorbic acid per 2 cups of apricot puree.
-If holding leftover apricot puree between batches, place plastic wrap directly on top of the puree to prevent air from causing darkening of the top layer of puree.
-Any leftover apricot puree can be frozen as baby food, used as toppings for yogurt parfait, in a smoothie, eaten right out of the blender with a spoon, or saved in the fridge for the next batch of fruit leather.