Instructions

1. Cut the stems off the figs and leave the skins on. Fig skin softens completely in the pot and carries a tannin that keeps this from being sickly.
2. Simmer the figs, apples and orange juice covered, at the lowest heat that keeps a lazy bubble. A hard boil drives off the orange and scorches the fig sugars against the base of the pan.
3. It is cooked when an apple piece collapses under the back of a spoon with no pressure at all. Undercooked apple blends into flecks, and the flecks stay hard in the sheet.
4. Blend it hot and blend it for a while. Fig seeds are tiny but there are a great many of them, and a short blend leaves a purée that feels sandy.
5. Let the purée cool before it goes onto a tray. Hot purée steams under itself on the sheet and the condensation gathers at the edges.
6. Spread it evenly on a lined sheet and dry at 52 °C for 7 hours. The fruit is already cooked, so the machine is only removing water here — nothing further has to happen to it.
7. Done is when the surface is uniformly matt and a lifted corner drops back without sticking. Fig makes a darker leather than most, so a wet patch shows up as gloss rather than as a change of colour.
8. Roll it and store it sealed for three months. Fig is high in sugar and these will bond to each other given any chance, so paper between the rolls is not optional.