Easy homemade fruit roll ups with aronia and strawberry

Everything in the media nowadays about what is actually in our food reminds us of a simple home truth – the only way to really know is to make it your very own good self. These homemade fruit roll ups are wonderful to throw in your bag for a midday pick-me-up or to keep in the cupboard for an afternoon workaday snack. They’re also a wonderful way to preserve any extra fruit you may have languishing in your fruit bowl or refrigerator.

Whatchmacallit?

Even the most natural fruit roll ups in the store will still contain some words you’re not quite sure how to say or spell, always a cautionary sign. These have four straightforward ingredients, two of which are fresh fruits and two of which are liquids extracted from whole foods. The beauty of simplicity is right here for the seeing and for the tasting. These roll ups are wonderful for children’s lunch boxes or backpacks too. Even better, make these roll ups with your child and introduce the paced pleasures of healthy living to them in the most holistic way. Cutting the fruit leather into different shapes or sourcing coloured parchment paper are just a few variations you could introduce in order to make this into a properly fun activity for your kid. Going to market together and selecting organic berries would be dreamy; so would be looking at the similar products for sale and coming to the joint realisation that the only real difference between what’s on the shelf and what you can make is packaging and time.   

Lovely aronia

Aronia juice is a lovely addition to these roll-ups. These richly purple berries are among nature’s best sources of phenolic compounds, which are plant-based metabolites. Mainly due to these compounds, aronia berries are thought to be wonderfully anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial! All of these things mean that aronia berries are supposed to strengthen your body’s ability to fight off nasty microorganisms.   

In addition and just as importantly, the tart flavour of aronia is quite special. It works well in this recipe to brighten up the sometimes cloying, over-familiar taste of strawberries, bananas, and syrup. That serves to heighten these roll-ups further. Erbology Organic Aronia Juice also contains vitamin C, which is valuable for the immune system, heart health, and collagen formation. A fruit dehydrator tray is worth the investment if you use it often. If you don’t have one, some people have had success baking fruit leathers in the oven on the lowest settings. Use a baking tray lined with parchment paper. This will take around 3-5 hours and you should be checking regularly to make sure the fruit leather doesn’t dry out. Exact baking temperatures and times will vary depending on your oven. This method may take some experimentation to get right, unless you are already extremely familiar with your home oven! This would be a good thing to do on a rainy weekend day when you are planning to hang around home anyway.