Here comes the recipe for our vegan orange tarragon fruit leather. It can perfectly combined with a cup of coffee, tea or as a dessert in between. Also, in this post I’ll tell you the next sequel to our “escape” from South Tyrol. Actually a place from which you really don’t like to leave. It hurts my heart when I think about what that means for local businesses that depend on tourism. A disaster. I hope that this phase is not going to affect this beautiful region too badly.
Off to Switzerland
When we were in the car on our way to Switzerland, everything felt even more surreal. How long had we been on the road? It felt like we had been away from home for ages, and it was only 5 days, can you imagine that? We drove through the villages and arrived at the Swiss border, slowly rolled towards the border gate, waiting for the border official to stop us…
Nothing happened. We just drove through. He just gave us a strict look from the inside of his office. We headed for the nearest gas station to get our vignette. Apart from us, there were only Swiss cars in the parking lot and one from Berlin whose driver was probably also clever enough to say goodbye to Italy quickly and continue his vacation elsewhere. Next we had to cross the mountain pass, called Ofen pass, which luckily was still open. As we should see later, we had just come in time.
Can we really make it?
Half an hour later and we would probably have gotten stuck in the middle of a snow chaos or would have had to spend the night on the pass. It was already afternoon and we were only able to progress on the pass road at 30 km/h. In the meantime, it had started to snow heavily and the further we got, the more we plunged into a white, enchanted winter landscape. The snow lay thick on the fir trees around us, everything was white. All alone, our car crawled up the snow-covered strees, there was no sound around us.
The snow blanket was getting thicker and thicker and in the end we drove maybe 20 km/h so that the car didn’t slip on the ice under the snow. But neither the slow drive nor the bad road conditions could spoil our mood. We were delighted with this beautiful gift that nature gave us here. The white winter landscape that we had all to ourselves and were allowed to admire.
After 1.5 hours crossing the pass we came to our hotel. It was still snowing and we were happy about the delicious dinner and the cozy fireplace lounge that was in the entrance area. So far, nobody was speaking of diseases and epidemics here. Would we maybe really spend a few more great skiing days here?
Orange Fruit Leather – The Best Sweet Winter Treat
Now to this wonderful orange tarragon fruit leather. Don’t worry! It probably looks more difficult to prepare than it is. You can prepare more of it straight away. Cut into fine rolls you can keep it in an airtight mason jar for several weeks. We always use the small glasses from Weck (affiliate link).
A few more important ingredients or kitchen aids:
- The most delicious hazelnuts, peeled and roasted. (a pure dream) You can get them here (this is NOT an affiliate link).
- A baking mat (affiliate link). We first tried baking paper, but you’d better avoid this annoying experience. The fruit leather sticks to it when you try to roll it. With the baking mat, everything works perfectly fine and your first homemade vegan fruit gums will be a success!
Orange Tarragon Fruit Leather with Hazelnut and Coconut
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 6 h 30 min
- Total Time: 7 h
- Yield: 8-10 rolls
Ingredients
4 oranges
1 tbsp fresh tarragon
1 vanilla bean
2 pinches of cinnamon
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 handful of peeled, roasted hazelnuts
Instructions
- Fillet oranges. Bring fillets to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, then blend using a stick blender.
- Add vanilla, a pinch of cinnamon, optionally a little maple syrup and simmer for another 15 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the stove, add tarragon, and another pinch of cinnamon to taste.
- Place the baking mat on a baking tray and spread a thin layer of the orange mixture in a rectangular shape on it (see photo above). The layer should not be thicker than 2-4 millimeters.
- Allow to dry in the oven at 70° C for about 6 hours. It is best to stick a wooden spoon into the door to keep it slightly open, which lets the moisture out, given off by the oranges.
- When the fruit leather is completely dry, it has turned into a rubber-like “mat” and can be peeled off the baking mat in one piece.
- Spread 2 tablespoons of grated coconut and the shredded hazelnuts on a baking sheet. Brush the fruit leather thinly with water on both sides using a brush and then place it in the coconut-hazelnut mixture. Press it firmly to the nut mixture and then roll it up carefully. Don’t roll it too loosely! Hold the roll tightly and squeeze it a little together while rolling it, so it keeps as much coconut and hazelnut as possible.
- If the roll looks like in photo no. 3, heat a kitchen knife with hot water (wipe the blade dry with a towel befor you cut the fruit roll) and cut the roll into thin rolls with gentle pressure. You can keep the fruit leather rolls in an airtight jar for several weeks.
(I use all products that I’ve linked to this article for Tastes Like Green Spirit, and recommend them to you because they have often made my cooking easier and more fun.)
Leave a Reply