Wednesday, October 28, 2009

hello sunshine

Dried grapefruit slices hanging in my kitchen window ....

... a fun way to have sunshine indoors all winter long ....

.... when we bring in our fir tree in December,
I'll festoon the branches with these golden orbs ....

*****

Here's the "How To:"
Slice your grapefruit into 1/4 inch slices.
You should be able to get about 6 slices per grapefruit.
Place a paper towel on a cookie cooling rack and place your slices on top of that.
Bake in the oven on super low (I set it to 170f).
After about 1 hour, flip the slices over.
Continue baking until nicely dried - but not brown.
About 4 hours total.
You can do this with lemons, limes, giant pomelos, yellow grapefruit, ruby grapefruit, even tiny kumquats would work. It makes a lovely and natural home decoration, gift tag, tree ornament - you name it!

19 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Thank you so much for this wonderful idea -- I've never seen anything like it!

^..^Corgidogmama said...

Anything that is natural is always so pretty. This is a clever decor, cheap too. Thanks for the tutorial~

ale said...

hola kimmie!!!!! beautifull!!!its more life in the kitchen!!the nature is so perfect and always sourprise me!!!!many many thanks for the recipie to dry them!!!! a very big kiss !!!!!!!!!!!

Andrea said...

I'll be buying grapefruit tomorrow!
This is beautiful.

Odd Chick said...

OH KIMMIE, Wow!! I'm doing this right now! THanks for going a step farther and giving good instructions!

*jean* said...

i used to make dried orange slices and kept them in a sealed jar....when i felt like the house needed to smell nice, i'd put a small pot on the stove with dried oranges, cinnamon sticks and a couple of cloves and leave it to simmer....mmmmmm

i love the idea of grapefruits....they look so fresh and vibrant in your window...

*jean* said...

ooops water too!!

ELK said...

yay ...I will happily do this, it is a really pretty and natural craft

shayndel said...

Beautiful idea.
Do the grapefruits keep their smell? I may try it too, that grapefruit pink is one of my favorit colors;)
Happy refreshing day to you.

Mollye said...

Oh Thanks for sharing this I made these eons ago and had forgotten about them. This is a wonderful project for the family and looks great, smells great and if you get the munchies at night you could always have one for a snack I guess. Ya think. Mollye

Anitra Cameron said...

How beautiful! Can you eat them, too? Or is that asking for way too much, from something so pretty?

Hmmm...going to take care of my granddaughter next Thursday. This looks like something we could do together. Smiling at the thought...

Catharina Maria said...

Thank you for this great idea Kimmie !
Love Rini

LINDA BYLSMA said...

Thanks for sharing this idea with us! You are so, so. . . .well, you just are full of ideas. Love it.

S. Etole said...

What a novel idea. Thank you.

~*~Magpie's Nest said...

ummm bet your house smells good too!

back in the day I sold citrus and dried apple wreaths (often with cinnamon applesauce ornaments on them, whole star anise was a fav deco also)...I had a dehydrator with about 8 shelves constantly humming

hanging the slices in the window is a brilliant idea ... Lovely golden orbs!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing! :) I love this.

Linda Vincent said...

I've tried this with oranges...but now I shall be more adventurous!
They look fab hanging in the window....

Meanqueen said...

They look lovely, but FOUR HOURS in the oven! You must get your heat for free. I don't use my oven at all.

Unknown said...

Meanqueen you crack me up! especially since your blogs are "Britain's Tightest Woman" and "Almost Britain's Tightest Person"...... The oven basically comes up to heat and since the door is shut it stays at 170 for along time before having to heat back up to 170 for a minute or two. I used to have a food dehydrator - which takes well over 24 hours running constantly.