Three effective methods for creating decorative pieces of orange slices

Bright, juicy, festive orange color radically transforms the usual look of the room, raising the mood and filling the atmosphere with warmth. In order to rejoice at solar inserts in the design even in the winter, it is not necessary to purchase the appropriate accessories, you just need to dry the orange for decoration and use it to decorate the room. This is done quickly, the presence of specific skills is not required.

You can dry fruit slices in one of three ways, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. To perform the manipulation, you need to purchase a ripe, very bright orange with a uniform flesh and preferably seedless. The best option would be a product designed for making juice.

Dry the orange in the oven - features of the approach

To easily and easily dry citrus for decoration, you should use the option in which the main element is processed in the oven. The main thing here is not to overexpose the ingredient and not bring it to complete frying.

The procedure consists of sequentially performing the following manipulations:

1. Wash my orange, cut into thin slices up to 5 mm thick, the main thing is that they turn out to be the same, without thickened or narrowed edges, otherwise they will not evenly dry. If desired, some elements can be peeled, but it is often used for decoration in the bathroom, in the kitchen, decorating bouquets and decorating flower vases.
2. Each slice needs to be dried by wrapping in paper towels. Excess juice should be completely absorbed.
3. Next, spread the baking sheet with parchment paper and distribute the orange slices on its surface. We dry them in a preheated to 140ºС oven for 4-8 hours. We regularly check products, otherwise you can miss the moment when they begin to fry.

Some housewives prefer to dry whole fruits. In this case, cuts are made on the surface of the citrus through each centimeter. Drying is carried out under the same conditions for 6 hours.

Tip: Orange slices will retain their bright color for a longer time if they are soaked in lemon water before the drying process. To prepare it, we dilute the juice of one lemon in a liter of boiled chilled water. Soak the elements in it for half an hour, dry and process.

How to dry workpieces using a radiator or sunlight?

To facilitate the process of manufacturing decor elements, special devices must be constructed. We take two identical pieces of cardboard, about 10 by 30 cm in size, and cover them with often located holes. We put the slices of fruit on one piece, cover with a second and fasten with office clips, bank rubber bands or ropes.

The main thing is that the contact density is high, otherwise the blanks will simply fall out. In this form, oranges can be dried on the windowsill, just laying the structure on the sunny side, or between the elements of the radiator. The latter option is only suitable if the heating season has already begun.

With this approach, it takes at least three days to get the finished decor items, but the finished products are obtained in an ideally even shape, and you won’t be able to dry them out this way. Every day, the state of the bookmark needs to be checked, because the slices, when dried, will decrease in volume. You may need to make the hitch of the cardboard sheets tighter.

Tip: To prevent deflections on the cardboard that can spoil the appearance of the final product, you need to carefully dry the slices before placing them on the cardboard.For this, several layers of paper towels are used.

Finished products will serve as jewelry for several months, all this time they will delight not only with an attractive appearance, but also with a pleasant aroma. A new batch will have to be dried no sooner than after 4-5 months. Original items are recommended not only to be laid out on shelves, but also used to create ikebana, Christmas trees, Christmas or Easter wreaths.