Wild Pear Part 5: Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

I got a message inviting me to relieve the bramble bushes of their fruit on a friend's land, so I dutifully obliged. As I still had a few pears left I decided to make some fruit leather. This isn't really a well-known treat in Scotland but my uncle used to send us dried fruit leathers from South Africa so they always remind me of my childhood. I guess they are similar to Fruit Roll ups or Humzingers, but without the preservatives.

I cooked the brambles and pears separately because I don't have a blender with filter to remove skin, seeds and other bits and pieces which would be detrimental to making a smooth leather. If you do have a blender with this facility then you don't even need to peel the pears - just chop them up and cook everything together then blend it all through the filter and continue with the recipe at the drying stage.

Wild Pear Part 5: Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

Ingredients:

• 1kg brambles, rinsed
• 1 litre of water
• 1kg pears, peeled and chopped
• Sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 star anise

Method:

• Cook brambles and star anise in 500ml of water until very soft
• Cook pears and cinnamon in 500ml of water until very soft
• Blend pears in food processor/blender
• Sieve brambles to remove star anise and seeds
• Add sugar to taste but remember that the leather will sweeten as it dries so don't over-sweeten it!
• Boil mixture until it becomes a thick sauce
• Line dehydrator trays with baking paper and pour mixture on top - if you don't have a dehydrator then line a baking tray, pour the mixture into this and bake at your oven's lowest setting for 8+ hours - checking frequently
• Dry until no longer sticky but still pliable (about 8 hours at 80C)
• Roll leather up and cut into bite-sized pieces

Wild Pear and Bramble Leather

And that's me finally add the end of my 5kg of pears and this ingredient's blog. Until next time xx