I’ve seen citrus garland posts all over the internet lately and I’ve totally been influenced. I had a few oranges and a lime that were on the cusp of going bad so, Voila! Garland! I’ll show you how I made mine.
The first step is to dehydrate the citrus to slow down their decomposition. To begin, slice the citrus in relatively thin slices, but not too thin. If they’re too thin, they’ll curl while dehydrating. And if they’re too thick, they’ll take forever to dehydrate.
I used two oranges and one lime to make a 6-foot garland.
Once the citrus was sliced, I lined baking sheets with parchment paper and lined them up pretty cozy next to each other. I used the lowest temperature my oven had, which was 170 degrees.
While waiting for the oven to preheat, I used a chopstick and pieced a hole in each lemon and orange. I tried to go through the white fleshy part since that’s the most stable part. This got a little tricky with the lemons, but I managed.
The oven time is going to vary depending on the citrus you’ll be using and the oven you have. My limes were pretty dry when I began so they dehydrated pretty quickly. The oranges took about 5 hours. Sure, I could have set the temperature a little higher to cut down on time but I didn’t want to risk burning them. I took it as an opportunity to practice delayed gratification, which always feels like the absolute worst!
Look how beautiful they are! I look at them on my garland and I can’t help but to stare for a little bit. They smell amazing and they make me happy. I’m a huge citrus garland fan. Obviously 🙂
Next up, I threaded a large needle with embroidery floss and strung it through each hole I made with the chopsticks. I did this for each piece and spaced them out to pair with some greenery. I love the combination of green and orange lately. So I just had to throw some green into these.
I used eucalyptus pieces but any greenery you have on hand will do. Rosemary would also work well, or any piece of evergreen. I would suggest to use something that has a pleasant scent that brings you joy.
🙂