How to Make Dried Fruit Slices — Being the Roberts

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Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest impact. This year I have loved the look of dried orange slices strung as garland, placed in floral arrangements, or dried orange decorations.

I started with small Halo clementines, but you could use oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, or grapefruit depending on the size and color that you prefer. I sliced each one into thin slices, getting 4 - 5 slices out of each orange.

I placed each slice on a dehydrator tray until ready to use. Here are instructions for both methods.

Oven Instructions:

Place orange slices on an a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Heat oven to lowest temperature which is usually around 170F. If your oven has a warm setting, this would be ideal. Keep baked oranges slices in the oven for 3 hours. Check the moisture level. Thinner slices will dry faster. They will brown/burn if left in the oven too long. Thicker slices may require 4 - 5 hours. You may need to turn the trays around to make sure they are drying evenly.

Dehydrator Instructions:

Place orange slices on trays. Leave in dehydrator for 8 hours (overnight works well). You may need to change the order of the trays or remove the thinner slices so the peels don’t burn. Thicker slices may require more time.

Turning the slices over also helps keep them drying evenly.

Note: If using the oranges in decor or floral arrangements that need toothpicks or wooden sticks inserted, do it before drying. Once the peels dry out, trying to punch holes will crack or shatter them.

In addition to stringing them together for garland, they are lovely when added as accents in flower arrangements or wreaths.

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