When the Garden Gives you Plums...
Seattle is home to a lot of fruit trees. I'm lucky to have a friend with two Italian Plum trees. After receiving multiple bags of plums I didn't want them to go to waste. I ate as many as I could but I couldn't get to them all before they were expiring. The answer to my overabundance of plums was fruit leather! Drying the pureed fruit was not only a good way to use the remaining bags of plums, it's delicious!
PLUM FRUIT LEATHER
7 lbs of plums (I used Italian Plums)
3/4 cup white sugar
Prep:
Wash and half the plums removing the pits. Place on sheet pans in a single layer cut side up and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Avoid burning the plums.
Allow the plums to cool. Once they are cooled, puree them in a food processor. (I did multiple batches because I only have a small food processor.) In a bowl mix the sugar into the pureed plums. You can use more of less sugar to taste. If you have great flavorful produce you won't need as much sugar.
Bake:
Line rimmed baking sheets (or jelly roll pans) with parchment paper. Make sure you get the sides lined too, not just the bottoms. Pour in the pureed plums to 1/8 to 1/4 inch depth. (The thicker it is the longer it takes to dry out. I prefer the texture of it when it's on the thick side.) Bake at 170 degrees for as long as it takes to dry out. If it's thinner maybe 6-8 hours, thicker may take overnight. You can also use a food dehydrator.
Serve:
I use a pizza cutter or pastry blade to slice mine into strips. Then I just roll them up!
I'm also in the process of making another plum recipe but I don't want to share the recipe because I haven't tried it yet! Hopefully there will be more plum recipes coming soon!
