So when I saw that my family was clearly not going to eat through that entire 10-pound bag of navel oranges before the last ones went bad, I thought briefly about marmalade and fruit leather, but then I thought, “Nah–craft supplies!”. Read on to see how to turn leftover oranges into shelf-stable craft supplies, and how to make a garland that shows off the lovely translucency of the preserved orange slices. To begin, wash and dry your oranges, then cut them into thin slices of about the same width. If you’ve got any other citrus, such as these lemons that I’m dehydrating along with the oranges in this photo, you can process them right along with the oranges. While you can dry orange slices in the oven, even a small dehydrator will get the job done more efficiently, using far less energy–and it leaves your oven free for cookies! My slices are pretty thick, on account of my knives are terribly dull (I know, I know, huge safety hazard!), and so this particular batch of fruit took a full eight hours for the oranges to dehydrate, and about five hours for the lemons. The thinner you cut your fruit, the less time it will take. Since you’re not going to eat these oranges, AND you’re going to sit them around your house at room temperature, you want them to be thoroughly dehydrated. They’ll actually be crunchy when they’re done, although don’t keep them in the dehydrator after they’ve become crunchy, because even at this low temperature, they can still burn. Next » There are a lot of crafty uses for dried orange slices–you could make a wreath similar to my dried apple wreath, or add them to an outdoor ice lantern–but I find that a simple winter garland, hung in front of a window (the one that faces my neighbor’s bathroom window, ideally), shows off the lovely translucency of the fruit while distracting me from the fact that my neighbor REALLY needs a thicker curtain. A shoelace is ideal to string this garland because the shoelace’s aglets make perfect needles. To use ribbon or twine, however, wrap one end in duct tape to make your own DIY aglet. Thread the orange slices onto the shoelace by poking the aglet through the orange onone side, and back through the orange on the other, threading each orange onto the shoelace in that way. Your garland can hang in any sheltered location, from the covered front porch to the window facing the neighbor’s bathroom–I hope your neighbor’s curtains are thicker than mine!
