This is the perfect time of year to start taking some of the things I stashed in the freezer over the summer when fruit was abundant. I had about a pound of strawberries, and a pint of mango puree (from mangoes my mother sent me from Florida---it was so hard to save some and not eat them all!). After defrosting them, I pureed them in the Vitamix so they were smooth, which saves you the step of straining to get the strawberry seeds out. The yield was four cups. I cooked the puree for about ten minutes to remove excess water and concentrate the flavors. A tablespoon of honey and a pinch of citric acid was all that was needed before pouring the thick liquid into my leather tray in the dehydrator. Ten hours later I had an amazing treat for sugar-free January. I probably didn't even need to add the honey. I love fruit leather!
I love these leathery posts:
From Kate at Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, watermelon leather!
How can you not want this Blue Leather from Kaela at Local Kitchen?
And Laura from Glutton For Life is a queen of leather. If you are local, maybe you saw her write up on fruit leather in the Edible Hudson Valley?
Bonus nerd out photo: I just got this stack of books at a thrift shop for a few bucks. Finding old preserving books is a rarity! And this bread book looks amazing. Best part? This was obviously the collection of one woman; her name is inscribed on each one. There are hand-written notes of hers scattered throughout the books, some a quick "Delicious!" and some more involved notes about the what was served with the dish or the memories it brought her. I love little details like that.
Jealous!!
ReplyDeleteLaura, thank you for reminding me of my glaring omission of your lovely leathers! It has been remedied. And yes, you are jealous of my books!
Deleteamazing! i never knew about "leather" and i don't have a mother in florida sending mangos...
ReplyDeletei love your blogging activities, me, i'll be taking it easy for a while - cooking and blogging. having salads instead, and watching the flight of humming birds out my window.
thanks,
m
Really? No fruit leather? I'm lucky on the mango-sending mother front. It comes in handy.
DeleteGood for you on taking it easy. I found that I like to write every day, albeit just a short bit. I'm going to see how it goes. I have placed no quotas on my productivity at the moment. I just like to talk about food excessively!
And humming birds, now?
yes, we have several feeders out and they just seem to be here, morning noon and evening. one feeder is just outside my window, it is hard to work while they are flying and sitting and slurping the sugar water.
Deleteyum!
ReplyDelete...and what a find with the books - you'll know her favorite recipes when the book falls open to certain pages...
It's true!!
DeleteI love books...I think that I am single handedly keeping our small library anexe open by filling up my 15 book quotient (and my non-reading husbands ;) ) constantly. I trawl op shops for books as well but rarely find good cook books like those. I did find a gardening book with $70 in it once so I guess I am ahead! I love thrift shop books that have been loved and used, especially bread ones. Most of my cookbooks are second hand and have little dog ears and pages with chocolate cake spatters on and foreign handwritten notes scribbled in the margins...a cookbook isn't a real cookbook till it is christened and used :) Love the blog by the way. Better get some fruit leather on to dehydrate myself (rather than just using the excalibur for making dog treats ;) )
ReplyDeleteI love books so much that whenever I decide to cull some, I'll end up sitting with them instead and realizing that I couldn't part with them. So, I am with you! $70 is a score, btw! And I do agree, it's like the Velveteen Rabbit: cookbooks aren't real unless they're loved. : )
DeleteThis is surely a very good blog, thanks a lot for sharing such nice information here.
ReplyDeleteMango Exporter in Pakistan