When you dry citrus fruit in the oven at home you go low and slow to fill the house with a gorgeous festive smell. Because this time of year is all about creating memories. This falls into the category of things your kids will love about Christmas. It is more sustainable than plastic decorations which are designed to be used this year and thrown away. You can add these to your compost bin once you have finished with them. That way your garden will benefit as well as your family!
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You will Need;
Oranges, Lemons and Limes, perhaps even Clementines and Grapefruit!
Oven set to the lowest temperature it will go 70 degrees or gas mark 1
Childrens Safety Kitchen Knife
Large Non-Stick Baking Tray
Bamboo Wood Chopping Board
The key here is to slice the fruit as thinly and evenly as possible.
Lay the sliced citrus out on the baking tray and then pop in the oven for two hours, turn them over and then for a further two hours. This should be sufficient time to allow them to dry out fully.
As a bit of a frugal cook I like to always have a full oven so I would include these slow roasted cherry tomatoes at the same time.
Dried Grapefruit, Dried Limes, Chillis … get creative!
You can be as creative as possible. Try Grapefruit slices, lime slices and lemon slices to really make your home smell festive. The sliced citrus will dry out really well and smell divine. Why not try to combine this rustic look with other crafts? There will be lots you can do with dehydrated lemons, limes and oranges. So there is nothing to stop you from having fun experimenting. Please share your success with the rest of the community here at The Mini Smallholder!
Dried citrus slices are just the start of a happy handmade home! I am trying a dried citrus wreath in the next few weeks as I have a lot of holly left over from having to trim after a storm. By using a mixture of dried citrus slices and whole dried citrus fruit I hope to create a real centrepiece. I will report back to you all!
For those of us looking for a little cheat, no harm in that at all! I have a 500g bag you can buy which will give you enough to make a dried citrus wreath.
We are also upping our output this year so we have invested in a Food Dehydrator which feels like a bit of a cheat but we find it still smells gorgeous in the house.