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Knotweed Fruit Leather

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japanese knotweed and apple leather

Here’s a fun twist on classic fruit leather using a basic puree of knotweed I mentioned here. It has a nice, slightly tight apple flavor.

Lately my pastry chef has been cutting these into strips, tying them in knots, and serving them on the complimentary petit fours plate we serve at The Salt Cellar to finish each meal.

japanese knotweed and apple leather

  1. japanese knotweed and apple leather
    Print Recipe
    5 from 1 vote

    Knotweed Fruit Leather

    Prep Time20 mins
    Cook Time30 mins
    Course: Appetizer
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Apple Leather, Fruit Leather, Japanese Knotweed

    Ingredients

    • 3 lbs Japanese Knotweed
    • 3 lbs baking apples like granny smith
    • 2 tablespoons fresh wild peppermint leaves torn (optional, spearmint could be substituted)

    Instructions

    • Peel the fruit. Chop the knotweed and fruit into 1 inch pieces. Put the apples and knotweed into a deep sided pan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook the fruit and knotweed until completely soft and the knotweed has given up it's juice, about 20 minutes. If the mixture looks very watery, reduce a bit longer. Transfer to a blender, add the mint leaves and puree until as smooth as possible. You should be left with a thick, smooth puree.
    • On a nonstick baking sheet, (silicon works like a dream) spread the knotweed puree with an off-set spatula until even and smooth, about 1/8 in is great. Now all you do is dry it completely and it's done, easy-peasy.
    • At the restaurant, I put the knotweed on silicon sheets and dry it in an oven turned off with the fan still running, which takes just a few hours. At home, you could put the silicon sheets in a dehydrator, or for an old school approach, place the fruit puree in the sun with a fan on it too. Drying slow in an oven on the warm setting would work fine too.
    • The knotweed is done when it's completely dried, it should still be somewhat pliable when bent. Store the knotweed in a labeled, airtight container, it will keep, unrefrigerated for a long time.

    Notes

    Equal parts knotweed and fruit, cooked and pureed, then spread thin and dried. I'm use a highspeed vita-mix blender for this, if you have a regular blender, you might need to add a little more water to get it to be perfectly smooth. I added apples as a natural sweetener, pears would also be great. This can also be made with only knotweed, but you will want to sweeten it somehow.

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Previous Post: « Japanese Knotweed
Next Post: Scallops Crudo, With Wild Szechuan Peppercorn Sauce And Sumac »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maddy

    December 24, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    Thanks! Thanks! Until Spring 2017

    Reply
  2. Zoran Tasovac

    May 6, 2019 at 7:10 am

    I tried this and result was all small island of material with holes and cracks. Do you maybe know what can go wrong?
    I used my Escalibur drier on the 145F setting.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 6, 2019 at 8:23 am

      That sounds like there was too much water in the puree, or the puree was not fine enough. I would try cooking it down a bit more before dehydrating.

      Reply
  3. Vallley Girl

    April 30, 2020 at 4:54 pm

    I’m wondering, do you know if Japanese knotweed rhizomes are edible? The roots? I like to imagine that we might eat our way through this brutally invasive species. I’m concerned about the “pinching off” effect of harvesting each shoot, which would result in 2 or more stems sprouting from the remaining stem/rhizome.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 22, 2021 at 3:11 pm

      I can’t speak to the rhizomes, sorry.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Knotweed Custard Tart, With Goat Cheese Mousse says:
    September 4, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    […] the recipe here, but there’s really infinite possibilities, for example the knotweed leather (recipe here) as well as some other fun ones I’ve been making I’ll share with you another […]

    Reply
  2. Using Japanese Knotweed for Food and Medicine says:
    June 30, 2019 at 7:04 am

    […] Knotweed Fruit Leather – Forager Chef […]

    Reply

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