Yes for decorative purposes, but am interested in doing whole fruit, not slices if possible. I already know how dry fruit for edible purposes using a food dehydrator.
Michie, I am in search of drying fruits for decorative purposes, too. Right now, I am experimenting using a process I found in a book from Michaels; that is, slicing oranges, limes and lemons thinly or making "lanterns" out of them (slits cut into the sides equally all the way around, and drying them in the oven at a low temp for about 5 hours, then air drying for several days after that in a humidity-free area. The problem? Mold. What to do? There must be something out there that people apply to discourage this. I hope you get some more replies. Dried fruits purchased from vendors are very expensive, and I make wreaths to purchase. mary
Michie - I usually forget an orange, lemon, lime or tangerine. I keep them in a wire basket and they just seem to dry by themselves. :> The color changes (darkens) and it does take a while. I now have quite a collection of them and keep them in a big basket along with artichokes that I forgot to use until they had started to dry. Of course, being in Colorado with low humidity helps. I would caution you not to put them in glass jar when they are dried - no matter how pretty they look - the voice of experience :< I have dried them using the slits but I let mine basically air dry cause they smelled so good, did sprinkle ground cloves & cinammon in the slits. This is a variation of pomanders where you stick cloves into the citrus. Good luck to you :>
The best way for these are freeze drying but you need to find an agent who would be willing to do it in small quantities. If you know someone please let me know.
