Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 248 kcal | 70 kcal |
| Protein | 6.2 g | 1.8 g |
| Fat | 1.8 g | 0.5 g |
| saturated | 0.1 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrate | 39.4 g | 11.2 g |
| sugars | 34.5 g | 9.8 g |
| Fibre | 19.4 g | 5.5 g |
| Sodium | 154 mg | 44 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2.1 kg berries (any type)
- 7 3/4 cups beetroot, peeled and chopped
- 1 to 2 handfuls finely chopped greens like kale, lettuce, spinach
- Stevia
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Grate or finely chop the beetroot before it goes in the jug. Raw beetroot is dense enough to defeat most blenders, and any chunk that survives stays hard in the finished sheet.
- Strip the tough stalks out of the kale and use the leaf only. A stalk shreds into fibrous threads you can feel on the tongue for as long as the leather lasts.
- Blend the berries, beetroot, greens and water in that order, adding the greens a handful at a time. Tipped in together they jam above the blade and the motor spins in air.
- Sweeten with stevia at the very end and go carefully. It is many times stronger than sugar, turns metallic if you overshoot, and cannot be diluted back out once the batch is blended.
- Spread the purée to 6 mm on a solid sheet. A vegetable purée is stiffer than a fruit one and has to be pushed out rather than poured.
- Dry at 46 °C for 7 hours. Once the sheet releases from the solid liner cleanly, turn it onto mesh for the remainder so the underside gets the same air as the top.
- It is finished when the whole sheet is one even matt purple with no glossy patches, and a corner folded onto itself comes apart again without sticking.
- Cut it into squares or strips with clean scissors and layer them with paper in a sealed jar. They hold three months in a dark cupboard, and the green fades well before the flavour does — a browning sheet is still fine to eat.
