The Secret History of Fruit Leather

October 17, 2017 8:04 AM

Also known as Amardeen, it all started in Syria.
posted by MovableBookLady (17 comments total)

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing schools and parents that “fruit snacks“ were not in fact candy

Well, not the greatest trick, but still really impressive
posted by Countess Elena at 8:15 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

Well, not the greatest trick, but still really impressive

That would be tricking schools and parents into thinking fruit juice was something other than sugar water.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:19 AM on October 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

fruit leather > fruit roll-ups

When we have a bumper crop apple year (hello, Fall 2017), apple leather usually makes an appearance in my house. There was also that one year I did quince leather, which is . . . potent. And tart despite the added sugar. And best mixed into things like oatmeal and not eaten out of hand. I'm adding apricot trees to my maybe-sometime-in-some-future garden plans so I can make apricot leather, too.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:40 AM on October 17, 2017

Once a year or so I try my hand at making fruit leather. Then I remember why I don't do it.
posted by bq at 8:55 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

One of my early initiations into hateful cynicism was being mocked by my peers in elementary school for eating fruit leather, only to watch "fruit roll ups" take off as a snack food a year later and watch all those assholes who belittled me enjoying their own version of the same stupid thing.
posted by idiopath at 9:00 AM on October 17, 2017 [8 favorites]

One of my early initiations into hateful cynicism was being mocked by my peers in elementary school for eating fruit leather, only to watch "fruit roll ups" take off as a snack food a year later and watch all those assholes who belittled me enjoying their own version of the same stupid thing.

Yeah, but MINE has a Transformer that you can peel out and then eat. Is your fruit leather also a transformer? If the answer is no, you're missing out on a lot of yummy transformer goodness.
posted by Fizz at 9:06 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

mine is a transformer that is tough, high fiber, chewy fruit in disguise as shoe leather
posted by idiopath at 9:15 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

aam papad
posted by infini at 9:40 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

infini: oh wow that's my favorite break room snack at work, I'm glad to learn about its origin.
posted by idiopath at 9:46 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Interesting article! I definitely remember the changeover from the delicious single-roll fruit rolls (which IIRC were brand x and then Sunkist) to Fruit Rollups, which at first were more fruit-related but quickly became mainly plastic and wax. I wonder if my first fruit rolls were Joray - would be interesting to know what their geographic distribution was shortly before fruit rollups came around.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:11 AM on October 17, 2017

This, perhaps, explains why the apricot fruit leather I cherished above all else in my lunchbox in early elementary school just kinda... disappeared from the grocery store, one day. I always considered the General Mills version to be gross (they didn't even MAKE them in apricot!) and rejected them outright. Luckily (?) granola bars existed to fill the 'dubiously healthy but still basically just sugar' niche in my school lunches.

This appears to be a rough timeline of the General Mills Roll-Up rollout, for the curious.
posted by halation at 11:29 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Once a year or so I try my hand at making fruit leather. Then I remember why I don't do it.

I haven't made it in a kajillion years before swanky things like convection ovens and silicone mats which MAKE IT SEEM ALMOST WORTH IT TO TRY AGAIN...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:06 PM on October 17, 2017

Ooh, those Joray packages are bringing back childhood memories I didn't realize I had! The apricot ones were the best, then cherry or apple. Grape and raspberry were tasty but kind of a pain to eat because they were stickier than the others and required precious recess minutes to pick them off the cellophane in little shards. Good to know that they are still around.
posted by corey flood at 4:56 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I told my mom about this and she shared my delight at finding out these are still around.... looks like I'll be ordering some fruit rolls!
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:47 PM on October 17, 2017

Once a year or so I try my hand at making fruit leather. Then I remember why I don't do it.

<50's mens' pulp magazine>"Hordes of Angry Squirrels Ate the (Fruit Leather) Shoes Straight off their Feet, Nibbled Toes!"</50's mens' pulp magazine>
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:29 PM on October 17, 2017

We get these in my country; definitely made out of real fruit (with added sugar). How on earth do you make them not out of real fruit? What constitutes most of the mass?
posted by confluency at 5:50 AM on October 18, 2017

Once a year or so I try my hand at making fruit leather. Then I remember why I don't do it.

I haven't made it in a kajillion years before swanky things like convection ovens and silicone mats which MAKE IT SEEM ALMOST WORTH IT TO TRY AGAIN...

Let me introduce you to food dehydrators and fruit roll sheets.
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:43 AM on October 18, 2017