How to Dry Flowers in the Oven
Equipment
- 1 Thorn stripper optional, but helpful for thorny plants like roses
- Drying rack optional but recommended to increase air flow if drying thick or large flowers.
Ingredients
- Flower heads
- Baking Sheet
Instructions
- Set oven on the lowest setting available. A heat setting ranging from 150F (65C) to no more than 200 °F (93 °C) degrees is highly recommended. If you're using a convection oven, aim for 175 °F (80 °C) if possible.
- Prepare the flowers, removing excess foliage and trimming off any stems. Get rid of any thorns and cut the stems to the desired length.
- Place all of the flower heads onto the baking sheet, spreading them out so they do not touch. If using baking racks, place them onto the baking sheet first, and then fill them with the flower heads.
- Set the time for at least 1 hour, but up to 1.5 hours if preserving a lot of flowers on multiple trays. It may take up to 2 hours to dry the flower heads if they're large or thick.
- Check on the flowers about every 30 minutes to avoid over-drying them and causing scorching. You'll know they're done if they're dry and crispy to the touch - if they're wet or tacky at all, they aren't done yet - put them back in.
- Remove the flowers from the oven, and allow them to air dry to room temperature before storing in a container with an airtight lid.
Notes
Pick no more than can fit in your oven to avoid wilting. Because the oven drying process occurs so quickly it is possible to dry multiple batches during a single day.