How To Make Dried Fruit For Christmas Decorations

November 18, 2020

Deck The Halls! Here's How To Make Your Ain Dried Fruit Arrangements

Traditional stale fruit decorations bring a certain festive simplicity and fragrant flair to our homes throughout the holidays that no shiny modern & polished ornamentation would dare to compete with.

Traditional dried fruit decorations are the holy grail of Christmas crafts. Strung onto a garland, hooked into a natural Christmas wreath or fifty-fifty nestled into a bowl of potpourri, they bring a sure festive simplicity and fragrant flair to our homes throughout the holidays that no shiny modern & polished ornament would cartel to compete with.

Losing yourself in this nostalgic craft for a few hours is a great way to switch off and get creative.

The chances are, you haven't dabbled with the art of drying fruit since you lot were a wee nipper but losing yourself in this nostalgic arts and crafts for a few hours is a great way to switch off and get creative. Plus, your habitation will smell better than a Christingle service by the time you're washed and who could be mad about that?

You volition need:

Oranges
Limes
String / twine / Raffia for threading
Blistering tray
Metal cooling rack
Parchment paper
Cinnamon sticks
Newspaper towels / tea towel
Upholstery needle
Scissors

How to:

The start and most longwinded step is drying your fruit. Cut your oranges into 1-2cm thick slices and pat dry with newspaper towels or a tea towel to absorb the excess juice. Identify your slices on a metal cooling rack over a blistering tray lined with parchment paper to permit the air to circulate around the fruit and prevent them from burning.

Place them on low heat (120⁰C) in the oven for 3 hours and flip them over half way through drying. If you lot're drying whole oranges, cut vi ¼ inch slices around the orange and oestrus as per the sliced fruit but account for longer drying times (iv-half-dozen hours).

One time the fruit is visibly dry, remove from the oven and allow to cool before proceeding. Y'all can create all kinds of dried fruit arrangements from nowadays-toppers to identify cards but here's how to make traditional tree decorations & garlands.

Christmas tree decorations

Tie a knot in your twine or raffia, you may need to tie a few knots until it feels secure. Next, thread your dried fruit and cinnamon sticks onto your twine / raffia vertically to make a niggling stack. Y'all will need to make small holes in your fruit to enable the needle to pass through.

When you're done, tie some other knot at the other end and create a loop to hang. For single fruit decorations, simply accept an inexpensive Christmas tree hook/wire ornament hook and poke a hole around the rind. Pinch information technology closed and you're washed. If you're attaching your dried fruit pieces to a wreath, utilize floristry wire rather than mucilage then y'all tin can reuse them for several years.

Christmas Garland

If you're making a garland, thread your first piece of fruit from the back of your slice of fruit at a 1 o clock position, leaving a 12-inch tail of thread the other side. Then, thread back through the forepart of the fruit at an 11 'O clock position.

Accept another piece of fruit. Poke a hole from behind at the ane o'clock position again. Pull it all the way through side by side to the showtime piece of fruit to continue it taut. Take the thread out at eleven o'clock position once again. Continue adding your fruit similar this until you're happy with how it looks.

Subsequently you lot've placed the last piece of fruit onto the garland, exit another 12-inch tail of thread at the other stop for hanging, as you lot did at the starting time. Shuffle your fruit along the twine if they look too huddled together, then take the leftover string at the stop, double it up to brand a loop and brand a knot a couple of inches downwardly. Do this on both ends so you lot can hang your garland on the mantelpiece. Cut off the excess string and voila!