HOW TO MAKE SWEET POTATO GARLAND!

SWEET POTATO GARLAND

Sweet potato garland is a wonderful accent to primitive or country decor.
Hang from doorways, over the tops of cupboards, strung between the doors of a hutch
or cupboard or as a garland on your fireplace - even as garland on you tree.

Gather your ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
1 cup boiling water
4 tablespoons of Instant coffee
ginger (optional)
cinnamon
nutmeg
sewing needle with large eye
cotton butcher’s twine or hemp cord - cut length as long as you intend your garland to be (Remember the potato chunks shrink) I put 75 chunks on my garland.

Here is one way to do it

First you need to make your dye: Mix the coffee and boiling water
Do not peel the potatoes but just cut into chunks
Next, sprinkle your spices on a plate
Soak your cotton thread in the coffee dye mixture
Dip or drop your potatoes in the dye mixture to stain them
Roll your colored potatoes in the sweet and pungent spice mixture
Attach the potato pieces snugly, one against another, on the colored string -Tightly string the cubes together because they will shrink while drying
Let air dry - you can also put in a low oven (150 degrees) to dry faster. Keep checking on it and push your cubes closer together as it dries,
once they are dried it's next to impossible to move them.

Here is the way I do it!

You will need at least 2 nice size sweet potatoes to make a garland.
Do not peel the potatoes.
I half each potato, then cut each half into thirds and then cut that four or five more times into nice size chunks (remember it will shrink almost in half).
I put the chunks into a large bowl, sprinkle with cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg and toss it all together.
I have a dehydrator I use, but if you don’t then put your oven on the lowest temp (150 degrees), cover cookie sheets with parchment paper, put the chunks on them, into the oven for about 2-3 hours, or until they are starting to get soft…Now you string the potato chunks. It is much easier doing them this way instead of when they are raw. Make a loop in one end of your twine and start stringing your potato chunks. Wait till the potatoes are dry before making the loop on the other end…You will need to push the chunks together as they dry, so make sure you use a twine that is strong, so it doesn’t break. You can skip the stringing and use the dried Sweet Potatoes for bowl fillers. Put a few whole cloves, bay leaves & broken cinnamon sticks in your bowl with the dried Sweet Potatoes...Yummy this smells so good.