What to do with too much fruit

I learned this trick from a friend, who makes trays and trays of this fruit leather during the Summer months.

It's so easy and I love the fact that it doesn't require any cooking or added sugar. Just the power of sunshine!

The method is simply to take fruit (such as berries, plums, apricots, pears) that you have a surplus of, remove stones, pips or inedible bits, puree it to a pulp (I used a stick blender as it's quick and you can do a large quantity in one go) then spread it out on anything flat that can be cleaned and left in the sun.

The best things to use are metal baking trays, flat pieces of steel or glass window panes. I lightly greased my trays with vegetable oil first (you'll never get the fruit off otherwise!), then poured the pulp straight onto the flat surface, spreading it out to the edges so it covered the tray by about 4mm.

Then it's just a matter of making sure the sun can shine directly on the trays for one to two days - depending on how hot it is. You do need pretty hot days to do this effectively. And the fruit needs to be really dry if you want to store it for any length of time (although you could probably finish them off in a slow oven if it turns overcast).

You know it's ready when you can peel the leather off without it being mushy or wet. I found it easier to score the leather into 5cm strips, then I peeled each strip off one at a time. You can then roll the strips up into 'snails' to make them easy to store, and trick the kids into believing they are just like the roll-ups that you buy at the supermarket.

The trays in the photo have plum pulp drying on them, which makes a delicious fruit leather, but a bit tart. My kids don't mind this, but it may be an acquired taste. I'm struggling to make our supplies last more than a few months, as they're a great lunch box food and general snack, but I think they would last up to 12 months if you stored them in an air tight container in the pantry, providing the leather is properly dried.