Strawberry Fruit Leather Recipes

This page shows how to make strawberry fruit leather with just strawberries, or in combination with other fruits and berries. See how I pack it for the trail, and how to make fruit leather sandwiches, 100% fruit puddings, and fruity spoon smoothies.

First things first: Inspect strawberries (and other fruits) to make sure they are mold-free. Wash strawberries under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. A salad spinner works great to wash and dry strawberries.

In part I of the Guide to Dehydrating Strawberries, I set aside the trimmings from the tops and bottoms of strawberries to use in strawberry fruit leather. The center parts of strawberries are what I use to dry in slices. But add whole strawberries if you need more for the leather.

Strawberry Fruit Leather Recipes

Quantities are flexible when you make strawberry fruit leather. For most dehydrators, you want to cut up enough fruit to produce 1–1¼ cups of blended fruit per dehydrator tray. You may add a little fruit juice to the blender to achieve a smooth consistency. If you prefer, substitute honey or a tiny pinch of stevia in place of sugar, or leave out the sweeteners entirely.

Multiply the ingredients in the recipes by the number of fruit leathers you want to make.

Photo below shows trimmed strawberry ends ready to go into the blender.

Just Strawberry Fruit Leather: 265 grams chopped strawberries, 2 Tbsp. cranberry juice, and ½ Tbsp. fine sugar. Makes1¼ cups blended. 

Blueberry-Raspberry-Strawberry Fruit Leather:  260 grams mixed berries, 2 Tbsp. cranberry juice, and ½ Tbsp. fine sugar. Makes 1¼ cups blended.

Banana-Strawberry Fruit Leather:  250 grams combined strawberries and bananas, 2 Tbsp. cranberry juice. Since bananas are very sweet, extra sugar is not needed. Makes 1¼ cups blended.

Orange-Strawberry Fruit Leather:  265 grams combined strawberries and oranges. Since oranges are both sweet and juicy, there is no need for additional fruit juice or sugar. Makes 1¼ cups blended.

Apple-Strawberry Fruit Leather:  250 grams combined strawberries and apples, and 2 Tbsp. cranberry or apple juice. No sweeteners needed. Makes 1¼ cups blended.

Dehydrating Strawberry Fruit Leather

Spread blended fruit thinly on dehydrator trays covered with nonstick sheets.

Dehydrate at 135°F (57°C). The strawberry fruit leather in the photo below was dry in eight hours.

The easy way to separate dried fruit leather from a nonstick sheet is to flip the leather over and peel away the nonstick sheet as shown in the photo below. If the fruit leather is slightly moist on the bottom, continue drying it directly on the mesh dehydrator trays.

Photo above: Strawberry fruit leather wet (left), and dried banana-strawberry fruit leather (right).

Photos above clockwise from top left: Mixed berries, banana-strawberry, orange-strawberry, and apple strawberry.

The photo below (shared by Richard Vanetta) shows blended strawberries spread inside the fruit-roll insert of a Nesco FD-80 dehydrator.

Packing Strawberry Fruit Leather

Fruit leather tends to stick to itself if your tear it into pieces for packing. The pressure of vacuum sealing makes it stick even worse. Folding up the fruit leather in baking paper (parchment paper) solves the problem.

Cut a piece of baking paper about three inches wider than the fruit leather.

Photo: Mixed-Berry Fruit Leather

Fold the extra paper over first, then continue folding the leather so you end up with four columns folded into one. Then fold in half the other way. You can fit several folded fruit leathers in one quart-size Ziploc bag. For long-term storage, consider using 8-inch wide vacuum seal bags to preserve several leathers.

Strawberry Fruit Leather Sandwiches

Fruit leather, folded and packed as demonstrated above, is easy to tear into four strips. Enjoy a strip anytime you get hungry on the trail. If you have a moment to linger and want a bigger energy boost, spread some Nutella or peanut butter on one half and fold it over.

Strawberry Fruit Leather Pudding

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of strawberry fruit leather (30 g)
• ¼ cup dried apples (15 g)
• ¾ cup water to rehydrate

On the Trail:

Add dried apples to water in pot and soak five minutes while you tear the fruit leather into smaller pieces. Light stove, and when a boil is reached, turn off the stove and stir in the fruit leather, which will dissolve quickly. The pudding may be rehydrated with cold water with a little more soak time and more spirited stirring.

Photo above: Strawberry Fruit Leather Pudding.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather

There is no one, best way to make strawberry fruit leather with rhubarb. If you love the tart taste of rhubarb, then increase the percentage of rhubarb in the mix. Rhubarb has a high water content, so only use a little water when cooking and simmering it to soften it up. When cooked, rhubarb breaks down into a slurry. Adjust the mix with choice of sweeteners, to taste, until you reach the perfect balance of tart and sweet.

In the Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather recipe below, the rhubarb flavor shines through after concentrating during dehydration. Instead of using just sugar, I also used raspberry jam, which was sweetened with sugar, not corn syrup. It resulted in the balance of tart and sweet that I was going for.

Servings: 5 Large Fruit Leathers

Ingredients:

• 500 g rhubarb (1.1 lb.)
• 500 g strawberries (1.1 lb.)
• 1 lemon
• 70 g raspberry jam (¼ cup)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 250 ml water (¾–1 cup)*
  

* Fruit juice may be substituted for water.

Wash fruit.

Cut rhubarb and strawberries into smaller pieces.

Add rhubarb to pot, grate lemon peel over it, squeeze in the lemon juice, and add 1 cup of water.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the sugar and raspberry jam, and let the mixture cool.

Combine the cooked rhubarb with strawberries, and run the mix through a blender until smooth. An immersion blender could be used instead, with less clean-up.

Spread blended mixture thinly on dehydrator trays covered with nonstick sheets or fruit leather inserts. For Excalibur dehydrators, 1–1¼ cups of mixture is a good amount per tray.

Photos: Dehydrating Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather on Excalibur Dehydrator trays, before and after. Notice on the right that the fruit leather was flipped over and the nonstick sheet was removed.

Dehydrate Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather at 135°F (57°C) for approximately 5–6 hours until leathery.

Roll or fold dehydrated fruit leather in baking paper so it doesn’t stick to itself. Store in an airtight container.

Rhubarb-Apple-Berry Spoon Smoothie

A trail smoothie with apples that you eat with a spoon.

Servings: 1–2

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet rhubarb-strawberry fruit leather (25 g)
• ¼ cup dried raspberries (8 g)
• ¼ cup dried apples (12 g)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1½ cups cold water (355 ml) to rehydrate
  

Pack fruit leather separately from other ingredients, folded in baking paper.

On the Trail:

Combine all ingredient in container with cold water. Stir vigorously to accelerate breakdown of fruit leather. Wait 30 minutes to give the apples enough time to rehydrate. The dried raspberries will mostly break down in the mix.

Suggestion: Prepare this treat in a Thermos Food Jar after lunch, and eat it an hour or two later when it is most refreshing. See my article about rehydrating hot and cold meals with a thermos.

Shared Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather Recipes

We held a Rhubarb-Strawberry Fruit Leather contest on the Backpacking Chef Facebook page. Here are some of the shared recipes:

Angela Lynn Wolfe

Wash fruit. Slice and put in pan with enough water to simmer it and add enough sugar for your taste. Simmer until cooked then dry on solid sheets.

Nancy Buttrick

Rhubarb Leather (no strawberries). Wash and cut rhubarb into 1-inch pieces. Place in pan along with sugar to taste, and just a smidge of water if needed. Cook until broken down into sauce, place on fruit leather sheet, and dehydrate at 130°F (54°C) until done.

Bonnie Nork

Cook rhubarb first with sugar to taste, but the following combos are also fantastic with rhubarb:

Blueberry-rhubarb (plain or add some cardamom, ginger, and orange)

Raspberry-rhubarb (plain or add some lemon)

I like a pinch of cinnamon with my rhubarb or strawberry-rhubarb concoctions.

Sean Anderson

Three cups chopped rhubarb boiled and simmered down for 15–20 minutes with a little bit of water and ¾–1 cup of sugar or honey.

Let it cool, then blend in a food processor with 1 cup of strawberries.

Add cinnamon for extra zing.

Spread on trays and dry at 135°F (57°C).

Louise M McKinnon

Cut 1 pound rhubarb into 1-inch pieces. Throw in a pot with a ½-cup water. Add lemon juice to your taste, about 3 tablespoons. Add ⅓-cup sugar or honey, or to your taste. Grate in about an inch of fresh ginger. Stir. When rhubarb is stewed, blend with the strawberries in a food processor until smooth. Dehydrate on fruit leather trays at 135°F (57°C).

Tim Searle

Cook the rhubarb with some sugar and lemon juice, spread it across a tray then lay thinly sliced strawberries across it so it looks pretty!

Kate Rogers

Blend with apple sauce, spread, and dehydrate.

Douglas Vanatta

Ingredients: 1 lb. strawberries, 14.7 oz. rhubarb, ¼-cup cranberry juice, 2 Tbsp. honey, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, and ⅓ tsp. vanilla. It is a tad bit tart, but good.

Steam the rhubarb for 60 seconds. Used ¼-cup cranberry juice to help get it all liquefied in the mixer. A pound of strawberry and 14 ounces of rhubarb make about 4½ cups of purée.

Photos show Doug’s Rhubarb-Strawberry Leather on Nesco FD-80 Dehydrator trays. On the left, the leather is poured into fruit leather trays; on the right the rhubarb-strawberry fruit leather has been flipped when it was almost dry to finish drying without the fruit leather trays.

Pour the purée onto the fruit leather trays and dehydrate at 135°F (57°C) until pliable, for approximately 6 hours.

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