Strawberry Rhubarb Fruit Leather

Another inspiration from Conner Prairie was rhubarb fruit leather.  They used it as a way to preserve rhubarb for a winter treat.  While searching for instructions on the internet, I came across a tutorial for strawberry-rhubarb fruit leather.  Even better!  This was the process I took.  When it was finished, the girls and I taste-tested it.  I liked it, but the girls not so much.  I'm considering making just plain strawberry leather since I still have quite a few strawberries left over from Monday's picking.

I picked the last of the season's rhubarb off the plant and sliced it into small pieces.  I also washed and hulled the strawberries.

The recipe called for a pint of each fruit plus 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of sugar.  I definitely had a lot more than 1 pint, so I ended up with 3/4 cup and 6 tablespoons of sugar.  I brought this to a boil and then simmered it for 15 minutes.

Next step was processing the mixture until it was smooth.

I spread the mixture out onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper (it supposedly works better than wax paper or plastic wrap) into a thin layer (the thicker the layer, the longer the drying time).  I ended up with 4 large cookie sheets.

After about 10 hours of drying time at 170 degrees F, you get the fruit leather.  I think I should have actually dried this for about 9 to 9.5 hours instead.  You're supposed to be able to roll it up, but some of mine broke into pieces instead.  The broken pieces were still chewy and not crunchy, but I don't think they are supposed to be that chewy. :-)

I put a piece of parchment paper in between each strip so that they all don't stick to one another.