Apple-Raspberry Fruit Roll-ups

I know I have done a post on fruit roll-ups, and how to preserve fruit in a way that kids love, husbands too!  I wanted to add this recipe for Apple-Raspberry fruit roll-ups because they are delicious!  When I was at the Southfield Farmer's Market I picked up raspberries and apples.  The raspberries were perfect and delicious, but to do a pure raspberry roll-up is a bit too strong, so I used two apples with the quart of raspberries, and a tablespoon of raw raspberry honey to make an awesome fruit roll-up.

Perfect Raspberries - cleaned and ready to go!

These roll-ups are a bit more labor intensive than other fruits, because I remove the seeds.  This is not necessary, but the difference in texture makes it worth it.  I can also get the kids, and Robert, to do things like the laundry and the dishes by holding the seed removal over their heads!

The first step is to puree the raspberries in the food processor.  Once this is done, I take a tablespoon and scoop the puree into a seed strainer, and using the back of the tablespoon, I shwish and mash the puree, helping the juice and pulp pass through the strainer.  Once most of the pulp is separated, I put the seeds from the strainer into a bowl on the side.  I will use these in a few minutes.  I continue this process until all the puree has been mushed through the strainer.

Mushed Raspberries

To get the most out of the raspberries, I now put the seeds in a triple layer of cheese cloth, bring up the four quarters, and twist from the top down, squeezing the seeds with my fingers.  I do this into the strainer, because as the little bag is continuously twisted down, a few seeds will pop out between the cloth, but so will a lot of extra pulp and juice.  This step is only if you want every last drop from your raspberries.

After the raspberries are all squeezed out, I put the seeds in the compost bowl and proceed to the apples.  I cut up two apples and put them into the food processor.  I chop them fine, and then add the raspberry puree and a tablespoon of raw raspberry honey.  (The honey is from a raspberry farm where the bees are exposed almost exclusively to raspberry plants, giving the honey hints of raspberry flower.  Clover honey is also good.)  I puree this all together until everything is well blended.

With my new dehydrator, I received two fruit roll-up trays, and they are great!  If you prefer, you can put a small bit of oil on a towel, and rub the trays down.  This is suppose to stop sticking, but I have found that the only sticking is right at the edge, and instead of oil, I use a non-serrated butter spreader knife and just run around the edges to loosen the roll-up, and it comes up with no problems.

I pour the puree into the trays, which are placed first on the drying racks, and use a silicone spatula to smooth and even out the puree.  After that, I gently bounce the trays to pop any bubbles and completely smooth out the puree.

Apple-Raspberry Puree

I set the dehydrator at 135.F and it takes about 12 hours to dry, but start checking around the 9 hour mark.  It is done when you can poke it and not get anything on your finger, and the texture is like leather.  Once it is done, remove it from the trays by gently loosening the edges with a butter spreader.

Fruit Roll-Up all Finished.

I like to cut the roll-ups into quarters:

Cut into Quarters

Once it is cut up into quarters, I use plastic wrap to wrap them like the store-bought roll-ups.  Place one of the pieces on a square of plastic wrap, pull a corner of the plastic wrap to cover the bottom of the roll up, and the roll it up!

All Rolled Up!

For more on making fruit roll-ups, including using plastic wrap if you do not have the roll-up trays, please read my post "Dehydrating Fruit - Making Fruit Roll-ups!"