Learn how to make dried oranges for Christmas decoration that is eco-friendly and biodegradable not to mention smells amazing.

How to make dried oranges for Christmas

Every year I theme my Christmas wrapping.

To me, nothing makes my Christmas-loving heart more joyful than the sight a whole lot of matching presents under the tree.

Ok so there’s the joy of my kids on Christmas morning but you already know that’s high on my priority list, matching presents are my own personal thing.

This year, I learned how to make dried oranges and used them to decorate the presents for an eco-friendly, biodegradable decoration.

I’m doing my best to create as little waste as possible at Christmas and that includes with the wrapping.

It was a given that I’d use brown paper (check out my ideas for Christmas wrapping with brown paper for more inspiration) but I wasn’t too sure what I’d add until a week or so ago but the almost-past-their-best oranges lurking in my fruit drawer inspired me.

I added a sprig of rosemary from my giant rosemary bush out the front of our house (one of the only things that has survived well in this insanely hot and dry weather) and tied the package with cotton garden twine I picked up from Bunnings.

For the card, I printed some of my Christmas watercolour paintings and cut them up into gift tags.

Next year I’m going to get my act together and actually have them properly printed on actual tags.

The dried oranges were pretty ridiculously easy to make but just took a little while in the oven.

What do you need to make dried oranges?

To make dried oranges you will need:

• oranges
• a sharp knife
• an oven with rack
• cooling rack

How to make dried oranges

1. Preheat the oven to 120C fan-forced.

2. Slice the oranges to about 2cm thick rounds.

3. Place the oranges on an oven rack and bake for 2-3h or until completely dried. This part is really important – if they’re not completely dry they’ll stain your paper!

4. Take the rack out of the oven and allow the oranges to cool completely.

Extra tips

You can do this with any sort of fruit you like. Other citrus also work well.

Store them in an air-tight container until you’re ready to use them.

Happy decorating!

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