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Loquat Leather
Loquat Leather is a traditional Bahamian recipe for a classic fruit leather made with loquats, an oriental relative of apples. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Bahamian version of: Loquat Leather.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
20 minutes
Total Time:
40 minutes
Additional Time:
(+6 hours drying)
Serves:
20+
Rating: 
Tags : Spice RecipesBahamas Recipes
The loquat (
Eriobotrya japonica) is a strange fruit, originally native to China. A distant relative of the apple and plum, the flowers develop in the autumn and the fruit matures over winter. It's excellent for making jam as it contains a very high pectin content (just like apples). You can substitute
crab apples or a mix of crab apples and Chinese pears in this recipe if you cannot get loquats. The seeds need to be removed before cooking as they are very bitter and contain trace amounts of cyanide.
Fruit leathers are an excellent way of preserving certain fruit for later use in the year. Leathers are dissolved to make drinks in the Middle East and are also used as the basis for fruit desserts or they can be eaten as sweets (candies), making them much more versatile than you think. This recipe is for a classic recipe using rose hips that preserves the fruit's vitamin C content in the leather.
Ingredients:
240ml water
500g sugar
30g
green ginger, peeled and grated
900g loquats (weighted after preparing)
Method:
Wash the fruit and remove the central seeds (combine these in a muslin bag). Combine the flesh of the fruit (remove the thick, furry, outer skin first), the water and the bag of seeds in a pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender.
Remove the seed bag and stir-in the sugar and ginger. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes.Take off the heat and allow to cool, then pour into a blender and purée until smooth then pass through a fine-meshed sieve to remove any large pieces of pulp that still remain.
Now line a baking tray with heat-proof clingfilm (the kind you can microwave). Note that an average baking tray (about 30cm x 42cm) will hold about 500ml of purée.
Add the purée to the covered baking tray, spread evenly with a spatula (you want a depth of about 4mm) then place in an oven pre-heated to 140°C. Place the baking tray in the oven but leave the door ajar (you want the steam to escape, as you are drying the leather) and cook for about 6 hours, or until the fruit leather is very dry. The exact drying time will depend on the sugar levels, the more sugar the longer it will take to dry.
The leather must be completely dry, or it will not keep. To ensure the leather is dry simply try to pull it away from the clingfilm (plastic wrap). If it comes away easily and holds its shape then it is dry (make sure its not too dry though, as then it will crumble bit it can still be eaten as a candy).
To store, cover the fruit leather in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and roll loosely. Place in a clean, dry container and seal (I typically use a pasta jar with a bung). It will keep in the store cupboard for between 4 and 12 months or you can refrigerate and keep even longer.
