Christmas Dried Fruit Air Freshener/decorations

by Colourful in Living > Christmas

53044 Views, 28 Favorites, 0 Comments

Christmas Dried Fruit Air Freshener/decorations

orange-slice-on-tree.jpg
christmas orange.jpg
Dried orange slices in jar.JPG
P1200808.JPG
I recently made some Mulled Wine (Click here for instructable) and didn't want to waste the pieces of orange and lemon I had put into it because they smelt amazing with all th e mulled wine spices and the citrus.

What I thought I could do would be to dry them and use them as Christmas decorations/to scent the air.

It's simple and it goes like this...

Collect Your Oranges/lemons

lemon_slices.JPG
Orange_slices.jpg
Get however many oranges/lemons you want to use
(mine was one of each because that's what I put in that batch of mulled wine) 
Slice into 1cm thick slices (about half an inch) or slightly thinner if you're good with a knife, I'm not.

These are not the fruits I used, just an illustration. I used heavily stained red ones.

Microwave the Slices

P1200808.JPG
dried lemon slices.jpg
dried orange slices.jpg
Arrange slices on a microwave safe plate/dish, none overlapping.
Put your microwave to 50% power or defrost and leave your slices in for 7 minutes at first.
They should be still slightly flexible, not crispy, but not juicy.
If not, put them in again for another 2-4 minutes and repeat until satisfactorily dry.

Get Creative!

orange-slice-on-tree.jpg
Dried orange slices in jar.JPG
christmas orange.jpg
Do what you will with your slices. I'm planning to get some star anise, whole nutmeg, and cinnamon sticks to make a Christmas centrepiece but they can be strung up somewhere, hung from the tree, threaded with other dried fruit and cinnamon sticks or just put in a bowl or jar to look decorative.

Attached are some ideas.

You can even put some glitter on them, although I'm not going to because I'm planning on making a spiced liquor out of them when they have served their purpose! Instructable to follow if it works!!!