Great tips from The Mini Smallholder on how to dry citrus fruit to use as cheap, low impact decorations.

When you dry citrus fruit in the oven at home you go low and slow to fill the house with a gorgeous festive smell. Because this time of year is all about creating memories. This falls into the category of things your kids will love about Christmas. It is more sustainable than plastic decorations which are designed to be used this year and thrown away. You can add these to your compost bin once you have finished with them. That way your garden will benefit as well as your family!

You will Need;
Oranges, lemons, limes, perhaps even clementines and grapefruit!
Oven set to the lowest temperature it will go 70 degrees or gas mark 1
A knife
Large Non-Stick Baking Tray
Chopping Board

The key here is to slice the fruit as thinly and evenly as possible.

Pro Tip – If you plan on hanging these with thread to a tree, gently poke a little hole in each slice now, ready to push the thread through once dried in the oven.

Lay the sliced citrus out on the baking tray and pop in the oven for 2 hours, turn them over and then leave for a further 2 hours. This should be sufficient time to allow them to dry out fully.
As a bit of a frugal cook I like to always have a full oven so I would include these slow roasted cherry tomatoes at the same time.

If you are feeling inspired after making these you could turn them into a garland – find out how here, or make yourself another great low impact Christmas tree out of olive wood!