SHIFTING ROOTS

home, garden, food, and prairie lifestyle

Oven Dried Oranges & Grapefruit

This year I’m really into natural, rustic Christmas decor–think lots of boughs of evergreen and cedar, pinecones, berries, and dried oranges and grapefruit. The other elements are easy, but drying oranges in the oven takes a bit of finesse.

Sure, it might seem simple, but when you dry orange slices without a dehydrator, you have to get the timing just so, otherwise they burn.

For those of you who like your content in video form, here’s a short video so you can watch the process. If you prefer to read, read on!

1. Pick Tired Looking Oranges

The whole process is actually a lot easier if you use older oranges and grapefruit to begin with. The fruit is drier inside, which makes the time in the oven faster. The outside skin is firmer, which makes it easier to cut. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with drying fresh oranges. The time in the oven will be longer.

2. Slice the Oranges as Thinly as Possible

Slice your oranges or grapefruit as thinly as your knife skills allow–around 1/4 inch or 5 millimetres. Keep them as even as possible. Use a mandolin if you own one for a much easier time slicing and less waste.

3. Arrange the Oranges on a Silicone Sheet or Parchment Paper

Arrange the oranges as tightly as possible on a silicone mat (set on a baking sheet, of course). Don’t worry if one or two oranges has to overlap ever so slightly to make everything fit, as the oranges with shrink with dehydrating in the oven.

4. Put in the Oven to Dehydrate

Here’s where things get dicey and the Internet has many opinions. I put my oranges in the oven at 225 Fahrenheit for a total of 2-3 hours. Wow Kristen, that’s a ridiculous range of time and not very helpful. I hear you.

The thicker and larger the slices, the longer the oven time. So for grapefruits and larger varieties of oranges, it will be 2 hours and 45 minutes to 3 hours. For smaller mandarin oranges, it will be more like 1 hours and 45 minutes to 2 hours.

The process also goes slower if you try to do two batches on the 3rd and 4th racks. This might not be the case if you have a convection oven, but I have the cheapest and most basic oven you can buy, so I don’t know.

Finally, some ovens tend to run hot and others run cool, so you’ll have to adjust your expectations based on how your oven tends to bake. If your oven tends to finish baking something in the least amount of time suggested on a recipe, you’ll want to check your oranges & grapefruits earlier.

Using dried oranges and grapefruits to create a wreath with natural greens.

5. Flip the Oranges around an Hour in

Easy enough.

6. Check the Oranges for Browning

The line between an underdone dried orange, a perfectly done dried orange, and a burnt crisp is surprisingly fine. I found that in my oven, in order to get a full tray of perfectly dried oranges that were crisp with no remaining juicy/leathery bits, I had to sacrifice at least 4 to getting too burnt.

Since I need to take pictures for this blog and burnt oranges are not appealing, I tended to take a tray out even if not every single orange was crisp. More on this later in the post.

After making a couple of batches, I learned the sweet spot was to watch for when the oranges started to get a very slight brown on them. At that point, most of them will be hard enough and completely dry, and you won’t lose any to burning. Even if some oranges are still tacky in spots–TAKE THEM OUT! Or watch them like a hawk. If you insist on keeping them in the oven, commit to checking on them every 10 minutes or risk having a lot of them burn.

Can I Use Dried Oranges that Aren’t Perfectly Dried?

I live in a pretty dry climate, so I’m willing to take the risk of not having perfectly done oranges, and am hoping that the tacky bits will air dry. However, if you live in a more humid climate, you might end up with mouldy oranges.

Don’t store any oranges that aren’t completely dry for next year. They will mould and should go into the compost instead. Any oranges that are completely dry should last for years.

What Do you Use Dried Oranges For?

I use dried oranges for Christmas ornaments, in garlands, and wreathes. They add a beautiful hit of colour to Christmas decor and look really striking paired with blue spruce.

If you’re looking for how to make all these decorations at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them at a boutique store, get your name on the list for the Natural Christmas Decor Masterclass. You can make simple and beautiful decor with foraged & natural items, that makes your friends drool with envy.

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How to Freeze Saskatoon Berries

Can you bottle up the taste of summer? Not exactly, but freezing Saskatoon berries for later use comes pretty close. You’ve spent hours in the berry patch picking, now it’s time to clean and freeze those beautiful berries! I’ll show you exactly how to clean and freeze Saskatoon berries, as well as answer a few questions about storing them longer when fresh, and using them in recipes.

P.S. Hey American friends! You might know Saskatoon berries as Juneberries or Serviceberries. It’s all the same berry.

Cleaning Fresh Picked Saskatoon Berries

The best way to cut your work in half is to pick clean when you’re out in the berry patch. That means avoiding twigs, leaves, and any berry that doesn’t look ripe or has been eaten by a bird. While it’s impossible to avoid everything, just being conscious of it will help you avoid way more undesirable berries that you would have had to deal with later.

Once you get home, transfer the berries a little at a time into a cookie sheet or pan in a single layer as shown below:

Then you can easily go through and pick out any undesirable stuff. Once you’ve cleaned a pan, transfer those berries to another bowl and wash them.

Wash them off

Next, I like to transfer the berries into a colander and rinse them under the sink. Gently mix the berries around with your hands to make sure you’re getting everything.

Let the berries air dry on another cookie sheet or other flat and contained surface.

Once they’re dry, pop them into the freezer.

Related: Saskatoon Berry Muffin Recipe

You can freeze them in a thin layer first and then transfer them to bags if you know you’ll be using them a little at a time–like you would if you’re adding them to oatmeal or yogurt.

If you’re freezing them for use in recipes, you can skip that step and freeze them directly in freezer bags. I like to freeze them in 2 cup amounts for baking, and 6 cup amounts for future use in pies.

Do Saskatoon Berries Freeze Well?

Yes! Saskatoon berries freeze very well and work just as well as fresh ones do in recipes. The only application they don’t work as well in is ice cream and popsicles. It might be a bit of personal opinion, but I think the texture of Saskatoon berries just doesn’t taste right in frozen desserts.

What if I don’t have time to process my Saskatoon berries right now?

In a perfect world, we’d all go berry picking early one morning, clean berries in the afternoon, and freeze them by the evening. Unfortunately that’s not everyone’s reality. If I know I can’t get to my berries until the next day or a few days later, I store them in Tupperware fridge smart containers. Yes, they can be pricey, but totally worth the investment. Berries will keep well in these containers for up to 3 weeks.

Do you just want the recipe without having to scroll to the bottom?

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Red Hamburger Relish: The Perfect Topping for Hamburgers and Hotdogs

Did anyone else’s grandma make a red hamburger relish?  For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, red relish is sweet and tangy, made with tomatoes, cucumbers, celery & onions.

Despite owning all her recipe books, I could not find the recipe she used.

My initial google searches didn’t turn up many results.  However, once I searched hamburger relish things became more clear.

Red Hamburger relish is sweet sour and zesty! Tastes delicious on hamburgers and sausage, or any other meat. A delicious way to use your garden vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and onions. You'll come back to this easy canning recipe again and again!
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Must Have Equipment for Home Canning

You’ve decided you want to start canning & preserving food at home–hurray! But if you don’t know anyone who wants to pass down their used canning equipment, the start up costs can add up. What do you absolutely need for canning? What can you live without? And what equipment is worth the money?

Here’s the best equipment for home canning, plus a few essentials for freezing and drying. I’m also sharing a few recipe books that I like and some of my resources on the blog to get you started.

Don’t want to hear about my thought process behind the choices? Scroll to the end and see my list.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots! You can read more about it in my Privacy Policy.

How do you start canning food at home?

If you’re brand new to canning, I recommend starting with jams, pickles, and tomato sauce. These three items all need only water bath canning, are high acidic foods, and are easy to have success with.

Stay away from beans, corn, carrots, or any food that requires a pressure cooker. Relishes, juices, and jellies are a nice intermediate-level project.

If the thought of canning is too overwhelming or you don’t have as much time as you thought you did, there’s nothing wrong with preparing your fruits and vegetables, then freezing them in freezer safe bags.

If money allows, you can vacuum seal for even longer life in the freezer.

To learn more about water bath canning, see my post on canning for beginners here. To get an idea about how to freeze fruit, see how I freeze peaches here.

  • Start with easy canning projects like jam, pickles & tomato sauce
  • Freeze fruits and vegetables instead if you’re short on time

What Equipment do I really Need for Canning?

The easiest way to get started with water bath canning is to invest in a canning kit and a few boxes of jars with lids in different sizes. I personally don’t like the canners that most of these kits come with, because they’re not tall enough for canning quart jars. This one I’ve linked is tall enough.

You’ll also want a few freezer bags for when there’s more of your recipe than can be properly canned in the jars you have. I sometimes also freeze my canning that doesn’t seal properly. I’m usually too annoyed that it didn’t seal properly the first time to go back and re-can it!

Related: The Beginners Guide to Home Canning

If you’re farther along into your canning & preserving journey, you might also want to invest in a steamer juicer and dehydrator. You can juice without a juicer (and I go into the pros and cons here), but the steamer juicer makes the nicest juice both in texture and colour.

We don’t dehydrate a lot in the fall, but we’ve used our dehydrator for making camp food for canoe trips on the river, and we like the results.

  • A canning kit and jar kit are a must-have
  • Save the steamer juicer and dehydrator for when you feel like an intermediate canner

Canning & Freezing When You’re Short on Time

It seems like every fall I have the best of intentions to can everything under the sun, but then school starts and my work commitments ramp up and I find myself unable to do as much as I hoped. In this case, the slow cooker is my friend. I can cut up that days veggies in the morning or evening, let them simmer in the slow cooker, and process them later in the day.

Or, I can just blend them up with my immersion blender and immediately put them into freezer bags.

I go into more detail about how I process tomatoes when I’m short on time here.

  • No time? The slow cooker, stick blender, and freezer bags are your friend!

Can I Use My Instant Pot for Canning?

Have you joined the Instant Pot craze yet? We got one last Christmas and I’m still getting used to it. I was very excited at the possibility of using it for canning, but as of 2019, it is not recommended to use for home canning.

Technically, it can be used for water bath canning, but because it hasn’t been tested officially yet, the official guideline is not to use it. However, you can use it to cook your tomato sauce, pumpkin puree, apple sauce or whatever you’re canning. Just use the regular canning, pressure canning, or freezing methods after your fruits or vegetables cook in the Instant Pot.

  • You can cook the fruits or vegetables in the Instant Pot, but as of 2019 it’s not safe to process them.

What are the Best Recipe Books for Canning?

I love canning and have developed a few favourite recipes over the years. Here are the ones on my site that I personally make and love.

If you’d rather buy a whole recipe book on canning, here are a couple of options I like:

You can’t go wrong with the gold standard of canning recipes.

I like small batch recipes, as I garden in the city and often don’t have enough produce for canning on a large scale.

This canning guide is an older version, but I love anything that Better Homes and Gardens puts out. They always cover the basics in an easy to follow, step by step manner.

I’m also currently reading through the Home Grown Pantry by Barbara Pleasant, and it’s a wealth of basic freezing, canning, drying, and other preservation techniques. She also has some good guidelines of how much to plant so that you have enough to freeze.

Here’s a quick list of my favourite canning essentials:

Must haves:

Nice to have:

How to Freeze Peaches

Nothing says summer like taking a bite into a fresh, juicy peach. Capture that flavour of summer and learn to freeze peaches so they last until next peach season. It’s way easier than you think, and you don’t have to peel off the skin if you don’t want to. Here’s how I do it, and my answers to questions that you might have.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Where do you get Large Quantities of Peaches?

Unfortunately, peaches are one of the few fruits that we can’t grow in Saskatchewan. I love getting fresh peaches from the fruit truck in a big box. Ask how ripe the peaches are and plan accordingly with when you have time to deal with them. The nice thing about freezing peaches, is that it takes far less time than canning!

Do You Have to Peel Peaches Before Freezing them?

It’s up to you. I personally find that if I rub the peach with a towel after I’ve washed it that I can get most of the fuzzy bits off. I have a new baby and not a lot of nap time in which to do things, so I prefer to do it this way and skip the blanching step.

If you can’t stand the texture, then boil the peaches for 2 minutes, and immediately transfer into an ice water bath. The skins should peel right off.

How Do You Keep Peaches From Turning Brown?

Once you’ve cut the peaches, mix them with lemon juice and a bit of sugar. It doesn’t really matter what amounts, but for context, if I cut 12 peaches, I would use the juice of a whole lemon and 1 cup of white sugar to preserve the colour.

Related: Cinnamon Peach Jam

How Long Do Frozen Peaches Last?

Frozen peaches should be used within the year, and ideally within six months for optimum freshness. As long as they are not freezer burnt and smell and taste fine, you can use them. And as they say, “when in doubt, throw it out!”

Frozen peaches will keep better the more air you remove from the package. Make sure to use bags designed for freezer use, as this will help keep the frozen peaches fresher for longer.

How Do You Thaw Frozen Peaches?

Once you’re ready to use the peaches, place the bag in a bowl and let thaw in the fridge. You can start the process on the counter, but move the peaches to the fridge once they are half-way or more done. If you’re in a hurry, you can also thaw them out in the microwave.

Related: The Beginners Guide to Home Canning

Step by Step Guide to Freezing Fresh Peaches

  1. Wash fresh peaches and remove skins if desired.
  2. Cut into small pieces and remove pits.
  3. If using the peaches for smoothies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay peaches in a flat layer. Put in the freezer for 6 hours or overnight. Remove and put into freezer safe bags.
  4. If using the peaches for pie or baking, put peach pieces into a large bowl. Mix with lemon juice and white sugar. Suggested quantity: Juice of 1 lemon and 1 cup sugar to every 12 peaches.
  5. Transfer to freezer bags in 2, 4, or 6 cup quantities, depending on how you plan to use the peaches later.
  6. Flatten the bag with the peaches and carefully remove as much air as possible.
  7. Lay the bag(s) flat in the freezer. Flattened bags are easier to store and free up freezer space.
  8. Enjoy all year long!

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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