Fruit Leather Walnut Rolls

Fruit leather – qamar al deen in Arabic, pestil or bastik in Turkish, lavashak in Farsi, pastel in Armenian and pastilos in Greek – is popular all over the wider Middle East and Eastern Europe. It’s fruit juice or pulp that’s been dried into chewy strips, originally to preserve excess summer fruit for winter. Grapes, apricots, plums, apples, pears, mulberries, almost any juicy fruit can be used to make this tasty, healthy snack. I’ve tried making my own, but it’s a lot of work when you can buy the real thing from Middle Eastern grocery stores and even supermarkets. Somer Sivrioglu has a recipe for pestil in his cookbook Anatolia if you’d like to try your hand at it. Otherwise, like me, you can just take inspiration from what he does with it and roll it around a delicious filling of dried fruit and walnuts to make these bite-sized treats. I love the combination of apricot leather, dried apricots and walnuts with a glass of Saison Fallen Quinces Vermouth (on the rocks) from chef-turned-vermouth-maker, Dave Verheul. Try it! See below for another Turkish sweet treat with dried apricots.

Makes 8 pieces