Homemade Cherry Lime Fruit Leathers

When you harvest/glean over 11lbs of cherries....

In Durango, Colorado we have this amazing resource in our community - The Good Food Collective

It connects the local community + helps eliminate food insecurity in SouthWest Colorado.

Well back to WHAT DO YOU DO WITH SO MANY FRESH CHERRIES?!!???!

Make Fruit Leather

This recipe is fairly simple - just takes a bit of time and a little labor of love.

Pit your cherries.

For this recipe you'll need 3 cups of cherries (can switch up the fruit for future recipes).

2 TBSP of Lime Juice (Lemon juice works well)

2-4 TBSP of Honey (we used Whipped Honey from Honeyville - DELISH)

Water -if needed. We did not need to add water for this recipe - the cherries were so juicy + ripe.

Since you'll need to preheat your oven to the lowest setting, which is usually 170* then can do this step later. Sometimes its easy to just turn the oven on - however, in our warm summer months - okay to wait.

On a stovetop, bring a medium saucepan to about medium to medium low heat.

Add the cherries and lime juice.

Stir occasionally. I found that the first 20-25 minutes you do not need to stir as often - however, as the water evaporates you'll have to stir the mixture more towards the end. You'll want the consistency to be jam like and thick. Remove from heat + and can directly go into the blender

In a blender, add the cherry mixture and honey. Once blended, taste it! Should you add more honey or is it just right?

Transfer the mixture to a baking sheet - recommend placing a silicone baking pad down. However, parchment paper works well too!

Bake at 170* for 2.5-3 hours. Longer if needed. The mixture should not be sticky to the touch.

Let cool and ENJOY! Simple - Nutritious - Delicious