These homemade fruit roll-ups are a product of making a homemade apple cider. This recipe demonstrates a budget-friendly way to use up ripe leftover fruit by cooking them in water to create a tasty beverage, then use the leftover scrap to make fruit roll-ups. Simply blend up your ingredients, spread puree over silicone-lined baking sheet, and dry out until the perfect fruit leather consistency. Easy!

What’s the difference between fruit roll-ups and fruit leather?

Commercial fruit roll-ups are made with corn syrup and natural flavorings for added chew and more uniform texture, while fruit leather is usually a bit more “rustic” needing only two ingredients: pureed fruit and sugar. Fruit leather is thicker and has a chew like jerky due to its lack of uniformity.

When starting your homemade fruit leather be sure to cook the fruit as long as it needs to cook through to ensure all the nutrients don’t break down in the pot. Pour in enough sugar until your fruit mixture tastes like your ideal kool-aid, then it’s ready to blend. The more powerful your blender, then more consistent your texture will be. I used a hand-blender in my recipe that blended to a consistency that wasn’t too smooth or too grainy. It was just the way I like it.

Knowing the technique to making fruit leather is a great tool for your cooking tool belt that gives you the know-how to skip wasting old or rotting fruit. It’s the same way people freeze that fruit, so they can use it in smoothies or making a quick fruit crumble. Fruit leather is shelf stable and will last you up to a month in an air-tight container. Making fruit leather is a cost-efficient, eco-friendly, and healthy way to enjoy your fruits and vegetables. I hope you try your own after reading this.