Making Dried Orange Slices // Sustainable Holiday Decor
When it comes to the Holidays, we like to keep decorations simple and natural. There’s something nostalgic about making your own decorations or bringing nature inside for the winter. We love to head to our local tree farm for a real Christmas tree, purchasing or gathering greens for garlands, baking pinecones from the forest, stringing popcorn, and, of course, drying orange slices to hang or to add to wrapped presents. Not to mention, using natural ingredients makes the house smell so lovely!
Drying Orange Slices
After you slice your fruit thinly, there are a few options for drying your oranges, or any citrus fruits: in the oven, the dehydrator, or letting them air dry. We’ve done all of the methods, so I will list them and give you some tips!
Oven Drying
An easy method, that anyone can do, is to set your oven to 200 degrees for 6-7 hours. I recommend putting the slices onto an oven safe baking rack places over a cookie sheet. This will allow the air to circulate around the oranges for an even drying process. If you don’t have one, don’t worry! I recommend putting some parchment paper on your cookie sheet (so they don’t stick) and flipping your oranges about every hour or two during baking. Once you get closer to the 5 hour mark, keep an eye on your oranges. If you want them to stay a bright orange color, you can take them out early and allow them to air dry.
Related: How To Make Nordic Paper Stars
Dehydrator
This year we were able to use our KitchenAid Countertop Oven to dehydrate our slices, and this was probably my favorite method! I just set our countertop oven to ‘dehydrate’ for 7 hours before we would go to bed, and we would wake up to dried orange slices.
Air dry
You can also just slice your citrus and leave them to air dry over the course of several days. Again, I would be sure to put them on a baking rack so the air can circulate or flip them every few days.
Related: How to Celebrate Yuletide
What to do with your slices
Of course there’s other uses for dried oranges, too!
Tea: Grind them into thick pieces in the food processor and store them in an airtight container for teas (be sure they are fully dried before putting them in a container)
Garnish: Use them as decoration to garnish dinners, appetizers, drinks, and desserts
Ornaments: Use a toothpick to make a small hole just under the rind and string yarn, twine, an ornament hook, or ribbon through to turn your slices into decoration. You can even add cinnamon sticks!
Garland: Similarly to ornaments, you can string twine through the oranges and turn them into a garland for your tree, to hang outside, or hang them on your mantle.
Potpourri: You can add the to dried potpourri for decoration or make stovetop potpourri for yourself or as gifts!
Recipes: Of course you can just snack on your dried oranges, you can make mulled wines, and other seasonal recipes or syrups
Treats: Dip them in melted chocolate and let them dry for a healthy(ish) snack!
Related: Enjoying Winter the Nordic Way
Happy drying! How do you plan to use your orange slices?