Drying fruit in the sun

Sun Drying
Painting the garage roof last summer made me realise how hot it is up there in the sun.  If the sun could bake me in half an hour, surely I could use it for more useful things like drying food!  We have a food dehydrator, but why use electricity when there's the whole power of the sun up there to make dried fruit and  fruit leather for free?!

Dried Fruit
Last year I made bulk amounts of dried apple, and have just done some amazing apricots.

What you need:

• a sunny hot place! I use my garage roof, and  I find the hot metal reflects the sun and warmth beautifully.  You could use a sheet of dark iron at ground level if access to your roof is difficult.

• drying racks: I made some by stretching thin cheesecloth over a light wooden frame (see the pic below).   I also use my dehydrator racks. I'd avoid placing your food directly on the metal cos of chemicals that could leach into your food.

• good weather!  Depending on what you're drying, you'll need at least one, but most probably two cloudless sunny warm days.

1. Slice the fruit thinly (the thinner the faster it'll dry). For apples I use a food processor with a 'slicing' function to make this step faster.  For apricots I sliced them by hand about 3mm thick.  
2. Spread slices of fruit evenly on the racks and place in sun.
3. Check after several hours, and turn over as needed.
4. When the pieces are dry and leathery, they're ready to eat.
5. Place the pieces in plastic bag & leave them in your freezer for 24 hours.  This 'pasteurizes' them, nuking any unwanted bugs that may like your dried fruit too.
6. Take out of freezer and store in airtight containers.  from my experience they'll last for ages (several years...if you don't eat them sooner, that is.)

Fruit leather
A bit more complex than the simple dried fruit as you have a runny mixture to handle, but the result is definitely worth it and you can make use of fruit not so easy to dry by itself.

You'll need:

•  the same drying set up as above, plus:
• baking trays / thin baking sheets / racks lined with plastic. (I cut up thick plastic bags & lay on my dehydrator racks.)

1. In a food processor, blend together whatever combinations of fruit you have on hand and think'll taste good.  I've just made a great batch of plum, rhubarb and beetroot (The rhubarb & beetroot were cooked first.) Be aware that the taste will intensify as the leather dries out - so if it's a bit sour when blended up, add some sugar or honey.
2. Spread the mixture thinly (3 - 4mm) on the trays.  Lay in the sun. (Of course as the mixture is runny, you'll need a flat surface for this stage!!!)
3. Check after several hours, and when the surface of the mixture is rubbery and 'tacky' to touch, it's time to turn it over...
4. If you used a baking tray, get a spatula and lever the leather off the bottom...if it's dry enough on top it should come away in one big sheet...and turn it over (easiest to turn it onto a new sheet or onto your cloth rack).   If you used plastic to line your tray or rack with,  flip the whole thing over & peel the plastic off the bottom.

5. When fully dry & leathery, cut into storable sized pieces, put in bag in freezer for 24 hours, then store in sealed jars.

Enjoy!