How To Make A Festive Dried Citrus Garland

Decorate your house this Christmas with natural materials from your kitchen.

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Forget the plastic decorations and buying expensive trendy pieces and decorate your home with this super simple but stylish garland using string, oranges, cloves and cinnamon – it will smell divine!

Ingredients

  • Oranges (one orange will make one garland)
  • String
  • Cinnamon sticks
  • Cloves (optional – but they do look pretty)
  • Chopstick or skewer

Method

  1. First slice your orange into pieces that are around half a centimetre thick. The thinner the slices, the quicker the drying time.
  2. Next, make a hole in the top of each slice with a chopstick. You can use a skewer but we found that the chopstick made a bigger hole which was easier to thread.
  3. Once you’ve made a hole in each slice, put them on a wire rack. A baking tray would work but it’s more effective when they can be heated evenly.
  4. Put them in the oven at 60* for up to five hours (if you’re slow roasting any festive treats then take the chance to cook your oranges at the same time).
  5. Take them out once they’re no longer juicy and are as dry as possible. Leave them on the wire rack overnight to continue to dry.
  6. Now to construct your garland and decorate. Push the cloves in a decorative pattern around the edges of the slices. It looks great when you can alternate decorated slices and undecorated.
  7. Thread the string through the first slice, in the hole you made earlier, and tie a knot.
  8. Then repeat this process leaving space between each one to change the length of the garland.
  9. Tie in cinnamon sticks in between the slices and you’re done.