My brother has a huge fig tree and in the summer, it’s loaded with fruit. He hates it because it drops figs everywhere and makes a big mess. Of course I love it. I try to pick them before they rot on the ground and last year I got plenty to eat and preserve. I canned fig balsamic jam and figs in honey syrup and it has lasted us until just recently. But my favorite thing I made was this Raspberry Fig Fruit Leather. This year I failed and didn’t get over to pick figs until it was almost too late, so I didn’t get the bounty I was hoping for. Of the figs I did get, we ate some fresh and managed to make a batch of fruit leather with the rest of them.
When I’ve made fruit leather before, I’ve done it in my oven, at it’s lowest setting (170° F). There are a couple of problems that I’ve run into with making it in the oven. One, it takes forever and I feel guilty about having the oven on that long, and two, it can sometimes burn a little on the edges. This year I did it in my car. Yes, you read that right. I made fruit leather in my car. And it was great! I did it on a hot day and just stuck it on my dashboard in the morning. By the evening it was done. No guilt about having the oven on all day, and no burned edges!
I cut the fruit leather into thin strips with kitchen shears and roll it up like a Fruit by the Foot. The kids and I have just been eating it on our trips to the park, but it would be great on a day hike or a backpacking trip.
If you can’t get fresh figs anymore, don’t give up. Move on to apples and try this Apple Spice Fruit Leather.
Raspberry Fig Fruit Leather
Yield
About 1 half sheet pan of fruit leatherPrep Time / Cook Time
/Activity Guide
Backpacking, Bike Touring, Car Camping, Day TripIngredients
- 2 cups chopped fresh figs
- 2 cups raspberries
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
- sugar, to taste (optional)
Tools
- Cutting board
- Food processor or blender
- Knife
- Large pot
- Silicon baking mat or microwave-safe plastic wrap
- Kitchen shears or pizza cutter (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to its lowest setting, or have a hot car ready. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or microwave-safe plastic wrap.
- Combine figs, raspberries, lemon juice and 1/2 cup water in a large pot. Depending on how sweet your fruit is, you may want to add a tablespoon or two of sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer until the fruit is soft. Puree the mixture in a blender or with an immersion blender.
- Pour onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently shake the baking sheet to spread out the fruit puree.
- Bake until the fruit is mostly dried out, but still a little sticky.
- Cool completely and then cut into strips. Store in a tightly sealed container.
These sound delicious and a great way to use up a lot of figs from our tree! I don’t have a silicone mat and would rather not put plastic wrap in the oven. Do you think parchment paper would work if I hang it over the edge of the pan slightly? Thanks for the recipe and your input.
Hi Sarah, I do think parchment paper would work, but I’ve never tried it so I can’t say for sure. Please let us know if you try it!
I use parchment paper and it works great.
Thanks for the recipe!
I am using up some dried figs I got from Costco. I already have put the figs in some water , softened them on the stove, puréed them and gave them a whirl through the food mill. Seeds, not fond of that many all at once.
Doing the same with some frozen raspberries.
Then I’ll put them together in a pot with the rest of the ingredients, to taste. Bring them to a boil and simmer until they hold their shape, then spread out on parchment paper and put them in my dehydrator.
Dehydrate at about 120 degrees for 8-10 hours or until they are dry and slightly sticky.
If I think of it I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Thank you for sharing your recipe plans @Andrea. We’d love to hear how these turn out! Good luck!
Thanks for the creative recipe! I am not fortunate enough to have a fig tree in my backyard so I bought dried figs and reconstituted them instead. Have you guys ever tried that? It seemed to come out great although next time I’d like to try fresh fruit to compare. I got my figs from Bella Viva Orchards because they are a local, organic and sustainable grower/producer:
http://www.bellaviva.com/dried-figs
That sounds like a great alternative when the fruit you need in not in season. I can imagine that the dried figs might impart an even stronger flavor than fresh ones. We will have to try that out. Thanks for sharing Matthew!
I made plum and wild Oregon grape fruit leather, along with wild blackberry syrup and fruit leather to give to all my friends and family and for hiking.. It was overly delicious so most people never got this as a holiday gift! Both eating fresh, making jams, jellies and fruit leathers with wild berries is super fun and a special holiday gift when turned into fruit leather!
Using the ingredients from the place that you live is very vitalizing! I once made an entire dinner out of different seaweeds…seaweed salsa, seaweed crepes with shrimp and seaweed chocolate cake!