Rehydrating Dried-Out Fruitcake Fruit

I've been trying to do just a little bit of holiday work every day. When I'm upstairs, I grab a handful of Christmas decorations from the holiday trunk and bring them downstairs to put out. Today, I baked a couple of loaves of almond and fruit bread for Christmas morning, which I'll store in the freezer until the 25th.

dried out fruitcake fruit

I didn't buy fruitcake fruit this year or last, but have continued to use up some that I bought 3 Christmas's ago. If refrigerated, fruitcake fruit doesn't spoil. And since it's so heavily candied, it also doesn't develop mold. The only evidence of its aging is that it gets dried out. That syrupy coating dries to crystals, and the fruit itself becomes tough and a bit leathery.

after 30 minutes

To fix my fruitcake fruit, I rehydrated the portion that I needed for my recipe in a bowl, with a tablespoon of boiling water added, and covered for an hour. I stirred the fruit from time to time, to make sure all of it came in contact with the water. 

left: dried out, right: rehydrated 1 hour

After about an hour, the fruit was mostly rehydrated, at least enough for baking purposes. The fruit soaked up the liquid, leaving just a trace of moisture at the bottom of the bowl.

This works with rock-hard raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruit that is no longer palatable due to their texture -- tooth-breakers I call 'em. For about 1/2 to 1 cup of dried fruit, steam with about 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiling water, covered for about an hour, stirring occasionally. This should bring the fruit back to a "normal" dried fruit texture, useful for baking.

Adding Evergreen Fragrance When Using Artificial Trees and Greenery

I love using an artificial Christmas tree. They don't need watering nor do they drop needles, and they can be exceptionally economical. We've used our tree for so many years that each year is now averaging about $9.50 from the original purchase price. That's a bargain compared to the cost of freshly-cut trees. The one drawback to an artificial tree is the lack of evergreen scent.

To address that issue, I use these oil-infused wooden sticks, designed to hang from the tree branches. However, I get the most bang for my buck in the scent department not by hanging the sticks from the branches of our tree, but by placing one or two of the sticks on the heat vent cover in the room where we place the tree. Two sticks really fill a large room with fragrance, while one stick is good for smaller rooms.

When the oil has mostly dissipated, the sticks begin to look a bit dried out. And if left on the heat vent for most of the year, as has been known to happen in my home, the color also fades. When not in use, I keep the leftover sticks in the plastic vial that they were originally packaged. 

The brand that I prefer is Scentsicles. You can buy them on Amazon, of course, but you'll get a much, much better price at a place like Michael's using a coupon or when on sale. (Michael's currently has them on sale for $4.99, compared to Amazon's price of $7.99.) Each tube has 6 sticks and comes packaged with small wire tree hangers. I bought 2 tubes five years ago, thinking I would need a lot of them in my house. I am certain that I could have bought just 1 tube and had enough scent for all of the rooms that I may want for my house. 

The sticks just keep on delivering fragrance. I've used some of these for 5 years. The faded and least fragrant of the sticks are used on the heat vents in the smallest rooms, such as the guest bathroom and the entry hall. I save the newer ones for the room where we set up our tree or use other faux greenery.

I originally paid about $4 for each vial, or $8 total. I expect the vials will last at least another 3 years, yielding a per year cost of about $1. When added to our annual cost for our artificial Christmas tree, it's roughly $10.50 per year for our tree and its added scent. This figure will continue to come down with additional years of use.