DIY: How to Dry Your Own Orange and Apple Slices
DIY: How to Dry Your Own Orange and Apple Slices
With the holidays fast approaching I wanted to share an easy way to add a little decoration for your tree or even a centerpiece. Drying orange or apple slices isn’t something everyone thinks about. If you do see them in a store you are apt to pay more than if you do them yourself. You can just dry them and use them as a garland alternating oranges and apples or add bay leaves in between or even cranberries or popcorn. I am including a “how to” below.
DIY: How to Dry Your Own Orange and Apple Slices
Recipe Type: DIY Craft
Author:
With the holidays fast approaching I wanted to share an easy way to add a little decoration to your tree or even a center piece. Drying orange or apple slices isn’t something everyone thinks about. If you do see them in a store you are apt to pay more than if you do them yourself. You can just dry them and use them as a garland alternating oranges and apples or add bay leaves in between or even cranberries or popcorn. I am including a “how to” below.
Ingredients
- 3# or more of oranges or 5# of apples (delicious do not work as well as macs, empires or cortlands) You can also do more or less depending on how many you want to do.
- If doing apples you can also use lemon juice to preserve the ‘look’ of the apples, I usually do not, as it makes them more wet for the drying process.
- 1 or more dehydrators or your oven at 150 degrees, no more than 200 degrees.
- A block or 2 of paraffin wax if you want to dip them.
- 1/4 cup cinnamon (optional) if dipping in wax.
Instructions
- You will want to cut the orange slices thin but not paper thin. The thicker they are, the longer they take to dry.
- I use the ends also, just be sure you take any stickers off, as once they are dry, it is difficult to remove them.
- If doing apples I cut them from the ‘butt’ in slices, to the stem area, leaving the seeds/core right in for the ‘look’.
- In a dehydrator some have a setting for fruits/vegetables, if yours is just powered by a fan, it does take longer and you will want to rotate trays every few hours.
- Once cut, I lay them on the trays close together leaving just a little space between.
- Apples are important to not be flimsy but also not so dry they crack.
- Once they are done if you are only using them for a center piece you can freeze them once you are done using them in a zip lock bag and they last for at least a year and a half if not more.
- If you want to dip them in wax, melt your wax in a double boiler, once melted you can add the cinnamon if you so choose. Then you dip them covering both sides and can place them on wax paper or aluminum foil to dry.
- If you want to be able to string them on wire or twine you will want to use a larger needle to pierce the wax and slice of fruit.
- You can use them to hang on your tree individually or as a garland or just in a bowl.
- Another idea is to purchase some scent from a craft store and squirt it all over the dried fruit (without wax) put them in a zip lock bag and shake it so they get enough scent to be noticeable.
- * Apple slices can also be eaten; the only issue is with small children you may not want them to, due to the core area being in each apple, but my older kids loved them enough that sometimes I had to make more.
- As you can see there are many ideas when it comes to drying these-I have even done grapefruit slices with the peel on to add to the mixture, but sometimes they can be more expensive.
- I hope you find these directions easy to follow, if not leave your questions in my comment section.
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