The fun part is carving your apples. You can make any kind of face, the possibilities are endless. We used whole cloves for the eyes and they worked great!
Then place your apple in the water for 10 minutes. Halloween Alliance recommends 10 minutes for dry areas and an hour for moist humid areas. According to them, "the salt will draw moisture from the apple once it’s out of the water, making the apple dry more quickly and helping to keep it from becoming moldy, and the lemon will help keep the color of the shrunken head light and uniform."
Go to their website and read more about it first before you begin. There are some more hints. Plan for two weeks to dry, but in a pinch you can use a food dehydrator or the oven at 200 degrees for 3-6 hours until dry and shriveled. Our were good for a party we had a week later and they continued to get better.
We actually skewered them on dowels and stuck them in a cookie rack standing up to dry. Place in an attractive arrangement for display and you are good to go.
Here is a sneak peek at how lovely, uhmmm, I mean gruesome and spooky they looked! This was really fun to do with the kids and they loved watching them dry and checked on their progress daily.
