Third Class

Fruit Leather (Fruit Preservation)

Today's class we are studying about fruit preservation, Miss Nina gave us the manual *stated below* and then separated the fruits to groups. Our group are working on preserving peaches.

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21/2c Strawberries, hulled and cut in half 25g Sugar



Puree strawberries in a blander until smooth,stir in sugar. Line jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and fasten it to the edges with masking tape. Spread the fruit evenly in the pan. Dry in oven at 140F (60C) until completely dry and no longer sticky (approximately 12hours). Remove from aluminum foil and roll up. Wrap the roll tightly in aluminum foil and store at room temperature in a tightly closed plastic bag or container. NOTE : Apple leather can be made using 1 1/2lb of apples (peeled,cored,and pureed), 90ml water,75g sugar, and 0.8g cinnamon.

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Some changes has been made, such as we only had 4hours for the fruit to dry in the oven instead of 12hours.

Each group were assigned to do 2tasks, by using the normal ingredients Sugar and also by using Honey.

a. Control - Prepare the basic formula. Note the time required to dry.

c. Honey,140F(60C) oven- Prepare basic formula, but substitute 30ml honey for the sugar. Dry in oven at 140F. Note the time required to dry.


Extra Info : Dry the fruits before blending in the mixture, so that it is not watery
(pad with a dry clean towel)
Ingredients using sugar
Ingredients using honey
Add the ingredients in the Robotcop to blend
After the mixture is blended
Add to the baking tray and spread evenly
Spread the blended mixture evenly (not to tick nor thin)
Put the tray in the oven to dry over 140F (60C) *sorry for the silly picture>.<* We open up the oven door because the temperature was to high,afraid it will burn the fruit.
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After baking the mixture to dry, the results was out.

For Sugar
Color : Yellow-ish Brown
Flavor : Not so sweet & a little bit bitter
Tenderness : Non sticky & can be rolled
Texture : Shining

For Honey
Color : Orange-brown
Flavor : Not so sweet
Tenderness : Sticky
Texture : Sandy
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So there you have it,the results of our experiment.
We found out that the honey based mixture takes longer to dry compare to the sugar mixture. Maybe its because of the liquid content in the honey. Its like we are adding more liquid in the puree instead of wanting it to be dry as possible.