Fruit leather

I'm not sure why I haven't made these before. We have a dehydrator (A Nesco "American Harvest", I think it was $40 at Walmart several years ago) and dry lots of things - tomatoes, herbs, fruit, jerky, etc.

I picked up a couple bags of apples at the orchard store a few weeks ago. We ate a bunch while they were still fresh, then they started to get mushy and I ignored them for a week.

I had an evening free, so I decided to try my hand at fruit leather. Piece of cake, and I figured an easier way to do it next time.
- slice the apples. Eighths or quarters if the apples are small. Cut out any rotten spots; bruises are fine.
- put them all in a big stock pot with about 2 cups of water, 2/3 cup lemon juice, and sugar to taste (1/4-1/2c for 4-5 quarts of apples).
- cover, bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat and simmer until fruit is soft, about 15 minutes.
- cool.
- run the whole mess through a food mill to get out the skins, seeds, stems, etc
- lightly oil the solid tray in your dehydrator, spread the apple mix evenly about 1/4" thick
- dry at 135F until dry to the touch

If you want really smooth fruit leather, puree the mixture in a blender. Feel free to add or use other fruits as well. Pears, berries, grapes, peaches, apricots, whatever.

I had about 4 or 5 quarts of apples to start; they processed down to about 4 trays of leather. Definitely a good use for bruised/mealy/soft apples.