Banana leather problem with sticking...

[TanjaJo]

I tried making the banana leather. I am wondering what I did wrong. I've borrowed my mom's American Harvester dehydrator, and I'm pretty sure the sheet I put it on is comparable to the teflex sheet. But it stuck so bad to the sheet. I had to use a spoon to scrape it off the sheet. And then soaked it in water to get the rest off. Are you supposed to use something for it not to stick? I loaned my mom the dvd's that came with the book so I can't check that out. And I don't think the book mentioned anything to keep it from sticking.

[Rawkinlocs]

Maybe you didn't dry it long enough (?) I have the Am. Harvest too (was my first dehydrator) and I made fruit leathers (including banana) with it all the time.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can't always go by the dehydrating times in recipes since things such as climate, etc. can play a factor in how fast or slow something dries. But if you want to, you could coat the tray with a little coconut oil or something...not too much, just a tiny bit.

[trinity082482]

May I ask you a question Rawkinlocs? :p

I also have an American harvest and I cannot make full size wraps or crepe's because its not like an Excalibur. I can only make small ones because of the empty center.

Do you make smaller ones or oval sized ones? How do you make due with the size? I love my dehydrator so I am always looking for pointers that work well for others who use similar style dehydrators.

Thanks. :)

[cassidy]

Trinity -
you might be able to use parchment paper cut out in a circle and lay it over the hole in the middle. Does that make any sense?
When I made my pizza I shapped it on syran wrap and then flipped it on top of the top dehydrator tray and it just covered the hole (removed plastic wrap of course). It worked fine. I bet if you use parchment paper for your crepes/leathers it would work just as well!

[Rawkinlocs]

I can see what you're saying, Cassidy...try that Trinity. But what I used to do was just make smaller ones. I mean, when Alissa makes them using the Excalibur, she ends up cutting the leathers and making them smaller anyways.

[crawmommy]

Hi ,
I have the same question and concern about banana leathers being so small/oval. How do you overcome this?

[Rawkinlocs]

I got to a point where I really didn't care if things I made in the Am. Harvest were kinda oddly shaped/sized...long as it tasted good! :p

But I guess one could just cut the circle in half and then cut those halves. I'd think that since a fruit roll tray isn't quite as large as the Excalibur tray, you could probably get two sheets of leather out of the recipe and end up with like 8 crepes. You could also try and trim those quarters along the edges to make them more "square-like" and the edges that are trimmed off, simply eat them as/is!