Banana leather

Walked into the store and they were begging me to take away bags upon bags of spotted bananas. Bananas are one fruit I don't feel quite as bad about buying conventional, as the thick skins that absorb the chemicals and pesticides are peeled away, but if I could get everything organic, I would get organic bananas too, at least for the sake of the growers. Walking out of the store with two huge bags of spotty bananas was a treat I didn't want to pass up, even if I'm not making banana bread. So home they came.

My daughter helped mash them as I peeled and drop them into the bowl.

Then I spread them on a piece of parchment paper, laid on a pan, and put them in my 200 degree oven for several hours. I was drying several other things in the oven anyway.

At that point, they had browned some and looked lovely, but weren't dry enough. So down into the dehydrator at 135º overnight.


And in the morning I had this:

 

Chewy, densely sweet, and ready and waiting should I want to add to smoothies or baked treats (as a sweetener!) or just for a banana-y treat.