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After you’ve been reading food labels for a while, you start to become a bit immune to the junk that agribusiness puts in their “food-like products.” Despite this, every now and then my eyes do a double take and only one word can accurately describe what’s going through my brain:
“Really?!”
Most recently, this happened while reading the list of ingredients on a package of strawberry fruit roll ups.
Here’s why: A few weeks ago we were gifted several pounds of fresh berries. We began to preserve them the best we could with our small freezer and dehydrator, but once those were full and there was still a lot of berries, I turned to the oven as a make-shift dehydrator and made an attempt at fruit leather.
I didn’t look at any recipes, thinking all it took was fresh berries, a couple of pans lined with parchment paper and an oven on low. Lo and behold, I was right!
Then a few days later, while starting to research for this post, here’s what I found on a box of strawberry fruit roll ups:
Ingredients: Pears from concentrate, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Contains 2% or less of: Citric acid, sodium citrate, acetylated monoglycerides, fruit pectin, dextrose, malic acid, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), natural flavor, color (red 40, yellows 5 & 6, blue 1).
Now if you remember just two paragraphs ago, I said I was reading the ingredients on a box of strawberry fruit roll ups. Did you see “strawberries” listed in the ingredients?
I sure didn’t. But I did notice four types of sugar and trans fat.
Oh, and some concentrated pears that were dyed pink.
I mean, really?! Do manufacturers really think that they can put all that sugar and additives into a cute little package and think we consumers will turn a blind eye and assume they’re healthy because they say “fruit” on the box?
Um, yes they do because they keep doing it! Thankfully, a woman from California (not me) has spoken up and this lawsuit might cause some changes when it’s all said and done.
Until then, I’ll keep making my own fruit roll ups because:
- it’s SO easy.
- they’re SO good.
- it’s SO frugal!
Seriously folks, if I knew how easy it was to make homemade fruit roll ups, I would have done this AGES ago when my kids were teething and gumming food.
Speaking of gumming food, did I mention that my oldest child recently lost his first tooth? He lost it while eating a tomato from the garden. When the tooth fairy didn’t exchange his tooth for a present, we hinted that it might be helpful to leave a note explaining why there wasn’t a tooth under pillow.
Isn’t that adorable? I just had to share.
Back to the fruit roll ups.
In case you didn’t know, the only difference between fruit leather and fruit roll ups is the thickness of the fruit when you put it in the pan. Thicker fruit gives you leather; thinner fruit gives you a roll up. You’ll notice the difference between the two in the pictures below.
The recipe is the same in either case and only requires one ingredient: pureed fruit. Now, you might find other recipes out there that add sweeteners or lemon juice or cinnamon or other fun things to the pureed fruit, but with the exception of the lemon juice, none of those are required. The only exception would be the lemon juice, and it’s only needed when you want to preserve the color of the fruit, like in apricots, peaches or apples, so it doesn’t turn a not-so-lovely shade of brown when it’s dried.
But you could even skip the lemon juice in those cases too if you really wanted to.
Another cool thing about this recipe is that you don’t need any special equipment. You can use a dehydrator for homemade fruit roll ups, but the recipe below gives instructions for an oven since my dehydrator was already packed to the max. Those with a dehydrator will need a jelly tray instead of parchment paper, but the temperature stays the same. Just check the roll up sooner, since a dehydrator is a bit more efficient with drying.
- 3 cups fresh fruit, washed and dried, pitted (if necessary) and chopped into approx 1" pieces
- 1½ Tbsp lemon juice (optional, if using light-colored fruits)
- Puree foods in a blender or food processor until smooth. If the fruit contains seeds (like strawberries or blackberries), you can press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove them.
- Line a baking sheet with either plastic wrap, parchment paper or a silpat mat. If you're using plastic wrap or parchment paper, allow just enough to overhang so the roll up is easy to remove later.
- Pour fruit puree on lined baking sheet to about ⅛" to ¼" thickness. Gently tap the sides a few times to remove the air bubbles and ensure the mixture is level.
- Place in the oven and turn the heat to approximately 140-150F. If your oven doesn't have a setting this low, see additional recipe tips below.
- Allow fruit puree to dry for 4-12 hours, checking every 4 hours for doneness. The fruit roll up is done when it is dry and smooth to the touch, not tacky and set in the center, and easy to remove from the wraps or mat.
- If you used plastic wrap or a silpat mat, remove the fruit roll up and using a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into long strips; roll up. If you used parchment paper, you can use kitchen shears to cut the fruit roll up and the paper and then roll up.
- Store fruit roll ups in the refrigerator for up to one month.
- 4 cups fresh fruit, washed and dried, pitted (if necessary) and chopped into approx 1" pieces
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (optional, if using light-colored fruits)
- Puree foods in a blender or food processor until smooth. If the fruit contains seeds (like strawberries or blackberries), you can press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove them.
- Line a baking sheet with either plastic wrap, parchment paper or a silpat mat. If you're using plastic wrap or parchment paper, allow just enough to overhang so the roll up is easy to remove later.
- Pour fruit puree on lined baking sheet to about ¼" to ⅜" thickness. Gently tap the sides a few times to remove the air bubbles and ensure the mixture is level.
- Place in the oven and turn the heat to approximately 140-150F. If your oven doesn't have a setting this low, see additional recipe tips below.
- Allow fruit puree to dry for 4-12 hours, checking every 4 hours for doneness. The fruit leather is done when it is dry and smooth to the touch, not tacky and set in the center, and easy to remove from the wraps or mat.
- Remove the fruit roll up and using a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into strips about 4-6" in length and 1" in width.
- Store fruit leather in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Additional Recipe Tips
- Use a meat thermometer (traditional, not instant read) to help you gauge the temperature of the oven. If your oven is digital, set the temperature to the lowest setting and crack open the door. If your oven is not digital, turn the nob until it turns on. In both cases, check the thermometer every 15 minutes or so until you’re close to 140F. You might have to open the door/close the door to try to maintain the temperature, so it’s best to do this at home when you don’t need the oven for anything else.
- Mix/match fruit according to what you have on hand. If two fruits taste good together fresh, then they’ll likely taste good together dried. I’m thinking mixed berries, coconut mango, cinnamon apple, peach raspberry,
Cost Breakdown
The cost of this recipe will depend entirely on what you paid for fruit. If you’re growing berries and other fruits in the garden, this will be free! If you’re paying out of pocket, aim for fruit that is in season for the best deal. Better yet, see if you can get “jam berries” or “seconds” from the farmers market. The fruit will be pureed anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s past it’s prime!
One pound of strawberries will yield approximately 3 cups of chopped fruit, so let’s use that as an example. In my area, strawberries go for an average $1.65 per pound, making each individual fruit roll up cost just 14¢. This is a savings of just over 30% compared to store-bought, and you’re getting 100% fruit without any additives!
If you’re making fruit leather, each individual strip costs just 9¢. The average commercial fruit leather costs 45¢ each, which means you save 80% by making it yourself!
These homemade fruit leathers would be perfect for the homemade real food lunchables too! Check out these other back-to-school posts for more healthy lunch inspiration:
Get more frugal, affordable and awesome back to school ideas or check out “The Healthy Lunchbox” – it’s one of the best eBooks I’ve read on healthy lunches, including back to school!
Please tell me I’m not alone – what’s the most recent food label that made you scream in your head, “REALLY?!”
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I just found you a few days ago and am LOVING your blog! We’ve been making the switch to real foods over the summer and I’m already noticing improvements in my younger daughter’s health. She’s also stopped fighting for the most part and is having fun participating in choosing and preparing the food. School lunch is going to be good this year (and coincidentally how I found you via an email from Mighty Nest) :).
I started making fruit leathers earlier this summer when my older daughter started buying the so called organic/all natural fruit leathers. We looked at the ingredients and were floored to see all the juices from concentrates and sugar. No trans fats, but still. Shortly after that we came into a ton of blueberries and decided it was time to make our own. A quick search at Amazon to get the solid mats for my dehydrator and off we went.
They taste sooo much better than the packaged junk. Now the arguments are between the girls trying to agree as to what fruits to try next. I suppose I can live with that!
Thanks Erica! What a nice argument to have on your hands! I agree that they really are SO much better – cleaner, fruitier and I love that they’re not really sweet. It’s just fruit! I’m looking forward to our no-spending challenge ending so I can make more with a few extra fruits that we collect. I’m anxious to try some fun flavor combinations. I’m glad you found Crumbs Erica – welcome!!
Can you use a dehydrator? I would love to make these but don’t want the oven on that long in the summer. Also can they be frozen?
Yes, you can use a dehydrator and I haven’t tested freezing. The leather is likely fine, thawing to fridge temps, but the roll up might be a bit too thin. Or maybe it was just my batch. It would be worth putting one of each in the freezer though, to see what happens. 🙂
Hi there. I LOVE this idea and am getting ready to do it now! Love your blog so much. I was going to say to be careful when cutting on a silpat. They have glass woven into them so if you cut into it, that can be trouble. I use one of those plastic cake cutters with a serrated edge. Or just a plastic knife. Anyway…off to put those frozen strawberries to good use. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the tip Merry! I had no idea!
We used to get empty frosting buckets from SAMs to use on our farm. “Spread n fill but ‘r cream” was the name on the label if that gives you any indication to the artificial ingredients used.
Really? Is a term I use quite often. I’m under no illusion anymore.
LOL – I hear you Jennifer. To those who are no longer deceived, it’s scary to think manufacturers can do so much and get away with it. 🙁
Cottage cheese. The “all natural” container at one store had among other things, food coloring. FOOD COLORING! Still can’t wrap my head around that one.
LOL – that would baffle me too! The fact that the cheese WASN’T white in the first place should definitely be a red flag!
Do you think you will ever try and make fruit snacks? Like Annie’s Bunnies-type ones that are gummy.
I think I will, but it requires gelatin (I think). I tried just dehydrating, and it took a REALLY long time, and the texture wasn’t quite right. This was done during our no-spend challenge, so I couldn’t buy what I needed! 🙂
I’ve been doing some reading, and made one recipe with gelatin. I’m not sure if I’m just not used to the taste of it or what but it was yucky 🙁 Hate wasting ingredients, but none of us liked it. I am going to try a recipe using Pomona’s pectin next
My ex-stepdad loves Twizzlers! I used to get them in big tubs for him for Christmas each year! I myself don’t have an afinity for licorice, but I do love fruit snacks and fruit roll-ups. As for the gelatin, do you buy grass-fed gelatin? If you buy it at a farmer’s market or a whole foods market, you can ask the sales agent there if the gelatin comes from locally raised cows. Grass-fed gelatin, they say, is better than corn-fed gelatin, which I read somewhere was one of those products in a category they call CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). If a product is in the CAFO category, there’s a pretty good chance it’s not 100% natural! According to http://www.butterbeliever.com/choosing-gelatin-powder/, there are two kinds of gelatin. collagen (gelatin), and collagen hydrolysate.
Hi Annabelle! Actually, gelatin IS collagen, it’s just cooked! 😉 https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2017/08/benefits-of-collagen/
To answer your question, I do buy grass-fed gelatin and collagen.
I was looking for a recipe for a homemade fruit roll up and found your web site. “Don’t waste the crumbs” resonated with me because I, too, try to stretch a dollar as far as it can go. Plus, we have alot of black berries frozen in our freezer. Can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Wonderful Ruthie! I hope you like it. We’ve still got a few in our fridge, and now that I know they’re so easy to make, I’ve got my eyes on early Spring fruits!! 😉
I’m a blind young woman who absolutely loves fruit roll-ups! I would sure love to make a homemade version of them! I bet they’d taste a lot better than the store bought kind, and I bet they’re better for you! The first time I tried a homemade fruit roll-up is when my mom made ones with comice pears. Deeeeee-licious! When my sweet love, John and I live together, I’m going to have him try something like this, as both of us want to eat stuff that’s all natural. I wonder how much a dehydrator would cost for me to buy? I know mom has one, but I’m not sure if it’s too big to fit in my apartment where I’m living now.
Yes! I found some strawberry fruit leather at the store and it is real food, but they cost .25 each and I’d love to bring that cost down! Super excited to try this recipe!
I also lost it when I read the label for Twizzlers. The Mr. brought them home to surprise the kiddos. I expected all the sugar in its various forms, but what made me scream was Glycerin. I mean Come ON!
My kids LOVE homemade leather. Because it’s concentrated fruit, it’s like dessert for them. And it’s so easy to pack in lunches!! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!
I wanted to ask if you can substitute fresh fruit for frozen fruit?
Probably Zena, but let it come to room temperature first in a colander to drain excess water. Your drying time might be a bit longer too, but it should work!
I wonder if an Air Fryer would work as a dehydrator. Or would the fruit possibly make a mess of the machine? I have a Farberware Air Fryer, and I want to try making fruit roll-ups in there. I wonder, what’s the difference between fruit leathers and fruit roll-ups?
Generally peaking Annabelle, leathers are very tough and thick (think jerky) while roll-ups are softer and thinner. I’m not sure if this would work in an air fryer or not, but that would be an interesting experiment!
I am one of those girlies who absolutely loooooves fruit roll-ups! I would sure love to make a homemade version of them! I bet they’d taste a lot better than
the store bought kind, and I bet they’re better for you! The first time I tried a homemade fruit roll-up is when my mom made ones with comice pears. Deeeeee-licious!
When my sweet love, John and I live together, I’m going to have him try something like this, as both of us want to eat stuff that’s all natural. I wonder
how much a dehydrator would cost for me to buy? I know mom has one, but I’m not sure if it’s too big to fit in my apartment where I’m living now. I would try it in my air fryer, but there are a couple downsides to that. First, you can’t put any trays into the machine other than the basket holder and the frying basket. Second, the lowest temperature my air fryer goes is 175. The thing I’m afraid of is that the fruit puree would just drip into the bottom pan as though it were grease, and it would then be horrible to clean! Are there dehydrators small enough to fit in a studio apartment’s kitchen?
Do you need to crack open the oven door as it driesfor either recipe? I’m so Excited to try these! Thank you so much for sharing!