Welcome to your Orange Slice tutorial . You can learn how to make this simple, but lovely Victorian Christmas tree decoration or fire place garland.
I will share with you the trips and tricks I have learnt and all the mistakes I have made a long the way!
What you will need:
Several Large oranges
- A decent knife, I have found a serrated knife helps to cut the slices more evenly from top to bottom. (doesn’t have to be large)
- An oven
- A chopping board
- A baking tray/s
- Kitchen Roll or grease proof paper
- A clean tea towel.
Method :
I started chopping my oranges in to even slices, and at this stage I turned on the oven to pre heat on 80°c .The trick is, I had my slices the same width all the way down. Also about 2 to 3mm thick. I found chopping each end of the orange off created a more even start to the slicing, I was then able to cute even sections of the above specified thickness more accurately.
One large orange should do 4/5 slices each.
I laid them horizontally on the chopping board and used a paper towel to dab the excess juices of the orange slices. Then I turned them over and repeated the process, this I repeated couple of times until receiving the desired dryness. On the times that I didn’t do this, the oranges slices took longer to dry out in the oven.
I then placed some paper towel over the backing tray, you could use baking parchment , however, the paper towel is more absorbent. Ensure it fits within the parameters of the baking tray to prevent overlapping while the paper is heated in the oven.
I turned them over at at 1 hour intervals 6-8 times. This helped them dry out evenly. It’s a long process and took around 6-8 hours.
Increasing the temperature of the oven runs the risk of burning the orange slices and may disrupt the ascetics and smell of the oranges, as well as possibly burning them!
As they being to dehydrate and the juices evaporate, they shrink and appear a darker colour and the fleshy fruit part becomes hard and not sticky.
Once they are cooled they are ready to decorate. You can add a ribbon and some cinnamon then add to the tree. Or string them together on Jute cord to make a festive garland. Whatever you chose to do with them they will make any room smell like Christmas.
What you will need for the tree decoration:
- Thin Ribbon/or Jute Cord
- glue (Glue gun is ideal but not necessary)
- cinnamon sticks( optional)
Method:
I use the whole naturally provided in the middle of the orange as making your own whole often causes it to brake to help the whole out a little I made it bigger by poking a pencil through it,
Thread the ribbon/Jute through the centre of the orange and glue the cinnamon stick to the top or bottom of the slice! Then hang from the tree.
