Juices

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IJANT 19 July 2012 Blueberry Fruit Leather
Three litres, about three pounds, of blueberries were made into fruit leather.The selected berries were hand blended into a slurry. The hand blender allows one to beat into a fine slurry, whereas a typical canister blender will not allow this unless water is added, which complicates the dehydration process. After experimenting with the various sold sheets sold by the dehydrator companies, I determined that they were relatively useless and not required since a teflon sheet is far more convenient. It is necessary to get the product onto open screen mesh for efficient dehydration. This is impossible with a slurry until sufficiently dry so the liquid does not run into the mesh. About ten hour at 125F dries the underside so it can be flipped over to complete the dehydration on the open mesh. Also the tefon pans enclose the thick slurry and make for a nice shaped leather.After the fruit sheet is on the open mesh dehydration is rapid and must be checked regularly to determine when the process is complete and the desired result is obtained.
Note. The end product was perfect after a further three hours of dehydration on the open sheets. The end product is a bit soft (desirable) and was vacuum packed and will be kept in the refrigerator or frozen for longer storage. To store at room temperature the product must be as hard a shoe leather.The commercial fruit leather and dried fruit if soft as is the usual case, has to be packed with bacterial inhibitors, since it cannot be soft and kept on the open shelves of supermarkets without some inhibiting chemicals. I never buy the stuff.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KSWVC 20 July 2012 Blueberry Fruit Leather(Logistics)
Fruit leather in general is not a cheap item to produce.Each large sheet in the photographs requires about two pound of berries, which presently cost 3.00 per pound. If the sheet is cut into typical serving size of 20 from a sheet. The cost per piece is about thirty cents just for the ingredients. Other issues are storage and softness of the finished product.To store at room temperature the product must be thoroughly dehydrated until hard, which is not conducive to casual eating.But is ideal for camping and the like lifestyles.For casual eating the product must be relatively soft and palatable. This means moisture is present and the product must be refrigerated or it will mold in a few days.Vacuum packing extends shelf life at room temperature considerably and is ideal for freezing. I envision this product along with other dehydrated fruits as a healthy, nutritional snack food replacing the typical supermarket junk food.The product presented is only blueberries with nothing added.Annotated photographs depict the process.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RHIND 25 July 2012. Blueberry Fruit Leather.
Eleven litres or about ten quarts of blueberries were dehydrated into fruit leather.The procedure is simple and the end product makes a quality, nourishing snack, or child treat. Each sheet contains about 1.7 litres of berries.I make it slightly pliable with some moisture present and store in the refrigerator or freezer. To store at room temperature it must be dried to a very hard texture, with no moisture present.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DIZER 19 July 2012 Blueberry Juice
Twenty three pounds of blueberries were picked ($2.60\lb) at a commercial farm (Kent Kreek, Norfolk County, ON). The berries were as perfect as they can be. About fifteen pounds were made into ten litres of juice. Each litre of juice contains about 1.5 pounds of berries.Blueberries contain no roughage, so straining was not necessary. Some were set aside for fresh use, and about four pounds are being dehydrated into fruit leather. Annotated photographs depict the effort.
Note: 20 July 2012. Another 15 pounds of blueberries was made into nine litres of juice. That is enough for this season.