Bing Cherry Fruit Leather.

Oh my word! Did you think that I had just abandoned you to the internets?? I haven’t been here since last week.

And I haven’t even really THOUGHT about blogging.

Darn summer. Darn schedule. Darn work.

OK, not any of those really. I love summer here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio, it is really the best time of the year. Well, except for the fact that they are saying we might be having some, how should I say it, HORRIBLE WEATHER by tonight. Oh joy. And I am not really complaining about my schedule, except for the fact that there is too much to do and I really would like to just find a lazy day somewhere.

And I love what I do so I cannot complain about that.

Sigh.

OK, getting back on track here.

Guess what I did this week?

I made Bing Cherry Fruit Leather. Who needs to buy those nasty roll up things when you can make your own.

This was a first attempt for me so I didn’t actually take any pictures of the results. Which is a good thing which you will see in a minute. All I did was pit the cherries with my little handy, dandy cherry pitter. Then I threw all of them into my food processor and ground the heck out of them until they were the consistency of thick apple sauce. Then I got out my dehydrator which has been resting in the pantry for summer to roll around. I spread the cherry glop onto the special “fruit leather” trays (no holes) and started her up at the correct temperature and let her rip.

6 hours later……..

Bing cherry fruit leather!!!

Or really to be accurate….Bing Cherry Fruit Leather pieces.

Now I have to admit that this was not an unqualified success. And there are several things that I am going to do differently next time. And yes there will be a next time. I didn’t add any sugar to this batch because I wanted to see how it turned out without any added sweetener. Bing Cherries are one of those hit or miss fruits. When they are perfectly ripe they have just the right amount of sweetness v tang. This batch of leather is a bit on the tangy side but still delicious.

And boy HOWDY is this stuff sticky.

And there in lay the problem.

I didn’t really think this whole process through as well as I might should have.

It is Bing Cherry season.

They were on sale.

I bought a big bag of them.

HHBL doesn’t really like them so I have to eat all of them.

I don’t want to waste them. I hate to waste anything.

Massive consumption of cherries brings on a certain intestinal consequence.

What to do? Dry them (that is the next thing I am going to try)? No.

Fruit Leather!

But I didn’t think about one thing. I didn’t really consider just how sticky this stuff was going to be and the fact that it just might be a bit difficult to detach the completed cherry leather from the special tray.

Yeah, that was a problem. That stuff was stuck to the tray tighter than a Kardashian sticks to fame. But I persevered and used a dull knife and finally had pieces of cherry leather that I immediately put on waxed paper, rolled up and stored in the fridge. Next time I think I will line the tray with a piece of cut out parchment paper.

And next time I will add a pinch of sugar and cook the cherries a bit on the stove before dehydrating.

But I am SO doing this again.

And I am picking strawberries on Friday. Can you say Strawberry Fruit Leather?

Be still my palpating heart.