Apples, Oranges, Cinnamon & Cloves


Each year as soon as the wood stove is being used regularly, I dry a string of orange and apple slices that have been dusted with cinnamon and cloves. The more thoroughly you coat the fruit with the spices, the more fragrance you have. This year I covered them heavily, so much so that you couldn't see the color of the fruit at all.
All winter long this garland of nature fills the house with a spicy scent that is subtle but enough to make you sense the holiday season is here. I slice the oranges and dust them in ground cloves. I slice the apples and dust them in cinnamon, then let them dry a day or so. You can use a dehydrator to do this, matter of fact it works quite well. I then string them up, hang them in a nice dry spot and let them do their work of filling the house with the scent of the holiday season. This year I added little bundles of cinnamon sticks tied up with ribbon. Just a simple little holiday project that delights all winter long.
I used a 5 lb bag of each fruit to make what you see hanging in the picture, the apples were the small variety, $2 a bag, and the oranges were under $5. The cinnamon from the Dollar store as were the cloves. The cinnamon sticks came from the Mexican market for $2 and I had the ribbon in my stash. The garland cost under $10 !

Comments

Mimi said…
That is a great idea... Thanks Patty
I am going to try that....
Lib said…
I Love your garland. I love the scents of this time of yr. You did a Beautiful job outting it together.
Blessins',Lib
~Babychaser~ said…
Great idea!! I may have to try something like that! :) Maybe a wreath would do the same thing on a smaller scale (for our small home and budget). :)

Thanks for your visit to my blog! I appreciated your comments. :)

I don't usually shop this weekend either, but the CVS sales started Thursday, so I ran out quick first thing in the morning before any "festivities" started... there was only one other car in the parking lot and they said I was the 6th customer of the day (at 10am). :)
Cathy said…
What a lovely garland! I can just imagine how good it smells.
Annie said…
How pretty, I can just smell it now! I will have to try making this myself. Thank You for sharing!
Patty said…
Its a fun project for the children to help with too, forgot to mention that part : )
Marci said…
I want to try this. Does it do well hung over a woodstove? Or should I put it some place else?
Patty said…
I don't hang mine to close to the wood stove. We try to keep things about 3 ft away from the stove if we think it might be flamable.
Unknown said…
I've been looking for something to sweeten our home ;) Here in Scotland we have an old Rayburn stove (1939) and although I do all my home baking, the oven seals so well that we never really get the warm spicy smell in the house. I'm going to make a couple of these! Thanks for sharing.
2 LMZ FARMS said…
As always you give me great ideas. I was just wondering how I could dry the fruit since I don't have one of those thing-ajiks. As I was reading in your earlier post, I like you would be able to survive if something was to happen. We was raised to be self-sufficent and I'm very thankful for that, it wasn't until just recently that I became aware that not everyone knows how to do a garden, can, or even cook a home cook meal. I guess I have been in the sticks too long to realize that not everyone lives like we do. Hope you and yours have a blessed day.
Laura
Angelena said…
Oh I love this idea! I will be making this one!
Marie said…
Dear Patty: I have never posted a blog in my life, but your site was so welcoming that I just felt like I belonged! My husband and I are moving to our home in the country on November 21st. I'm so excited that it is hard for me to stay focused. One way to calm down was to do a craft but everything is packed away, but I had an orange so I was looking for a tip on how to cure it with spices when I came upon your site. First, your garland is beautiful! I love homemade decorations; I cannot bring myself to spend money on something made in China. Anyway, what caused me to sign in and join was that you mention that you had a wood stove. My husband and I are about to purchase one for heating as our house is heated by an oil stove. I am having a hard time with the fact that my cooking stove is electric. I love to make everything homemade, so I am cooking quite a bit. We are currently researching the pros and cons of cooking with a wood burning stove. I'm sure that summer time cooking is out, but my husband thought that could be solved with an electric stove top. Do you or any of your readers have any information or suggestions. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am so excited to be a part of this! Where I live now I am the only woman that decorates in early American. The pictures of your home are stunning! Thanks, Marie
Patty said…
Hi Marie and thanks for writing.
Cooking on a woodstove is great fun but also a bit tricky. Lehmans has a couple of good books that tell just how to cook on one. Ours is not a cook stove per say, but we do cook on the top all winter long. The newer wood cook stoves even have thermometers that keep the cooking easier. If you are just using a wood stove that you heat with to cook on top of, then its just about like cooking on a gas stove. Just we keep the pans on a ring and not directly on the stove top. Easier to keep things from buring that way.
I do know many women that cook only on woodstoves and love it but they are in colder climates. Texas is just too hot to even think about a wood cook stove except during our short winter season.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at pasuhi54@msn.com I will be busy for the next few days with my grandbaby having surgery so might be a bit slow in answering, but I will reply!

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