Dried Citrus Ornaments – A Stunning Mess

Citrus season is upon us! You already know what meaning, don’t you? Elsie will probably be whipping up an orange cranberry margarita with the tart fruit, and I’ll be over right here butchering oranges and lemons for vacation dwelling decor. Haha!

That’s proper, I’m getting au naturel and turning meals into Christmas ornaments. These dried citrus ornaments scent nice while you make them, and you’ll eat the leftovers. Feels like my sort of craft!

a dried citrus ornament hanging on a Christmas Tree

Provides:

someone cutting lemons and limes on a cutting board

Easy methods to Make Dried Citrus Ornaments:

Step One: Slice your fruit into 1/4″ slices and thoroughly take away the seeds. Use a large blade knife (this knife set is so cute!) to make sure uniform thickness of particular person slices.

slices of oranges, lemons, and limes on a paper towel

Step Two: Prepare the fruit slices onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in a heat oven set to about 150-170°F.

Bake for 3-4 hours, flipping each hour till the fruit is dried (however not utterly shriveled up). You need the slices to retain their shade and never look brown across the edges.

someone taking a baking sheet of sliced oranges, lemons, and limes out of the oven

Can You Air Dry The Citrus Slices?

I additionally tried a way of air drying the citrus slices and was stunned at how rapidly they dried out.

It took about 4 days for them to get to a pleasant stiffness, although the orange slices curled up reasonably than staying flat as they did after baking them. The lemon and lime slices didn’t curl.

a dried citrus ornament hanging from a Christmas Tree

Step Three: Pierce the dried fruit slices with decoration hangers. That’s it! Now you will have fairly ornaments on your tree. These would additionally make an incredible present.

Take a look at Selfmade Present Concepts for Everybody on Your Record for extra concepts!

several dried citrus ornaments hanging from a small Christmas Tree in a vase on a bedstand

I like how the slices are a bit like little items of stained glass. The sunshine shines by them creating a reasonably orange glow.

These citrus ornaments work nice with an amber vase of evergreens, held on a Christmas tree, and even strung up for a fantastic garland in entrance of a window. And I like how they appear subsequent to my DIY porcelain tree lights.

And in the event you’re pressed for time, you can even buy your orange slices already dried!

We’ve acquired a ton of enjoyable vacation decor and recipe inspiration in our Christmas archives, so discover one thing enjoyable (and scrumptious!) to make this vacation season! –Mandi

Extra DIY Christmas Ornaments:


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Get the How-To

Make your individual dried fruit ornaments utilizing lemons, orange, or limes

Prep 10 minutes

Prepare dinner 3 hrs 30 minutes

Whole 3 hrs 40 minutes

Notes

I also tried a technique of air drying the citrus slices and was surprised at how quickly they dried out.
It took about four days for them to get to a nice stiffness, though the orange slices curled up rather than staying flat as they did after baking them. The lemon and lime slices didn’t curl.