We recently started squeezing our own orange juice after reading about industry standard flavor packs in your morning OJ. Now, we’re not big fans of juice in our house anyway but I’ve got to admit to loving a little glass of orange juice with my morning waffles. So, now we’re left to squeezing our own, which basically means we only drink it on the weekends when Jim and I have time to tag team the kids while we go to town on the oranges.
You never realize how many oranges it takes to fill a tiny little breakfast glass until you’re trying to do it while balancing a heavy 10 month old on one hip! And what to do with all the peels? You could candy them but that can be a lengthy process and do you really want a ton of yummy candied peels just hanging around your house, screaming at you to eat them? You could also put them in some boiling water with a little cinnamon and cloves to make your house smell amazing but that takes care of eight of the peels. What to do with the other 30+?
Make orange infused vinegar!!
The process is so easy, you almost don’t need instructions. Just shove a ton of orange peels into a large jar, fill with vinegar and allow to sit for at least two weeks. After your vinegar has a nice orange hue to it, strain the liquid into another smaller jar to store. To use, fill a squirt bottle with 50/50 orange vinegar and water.
Not only do you have the cleaning power of oranges but now your vinegar smells good. Maybe it’ll make me clean more often!
Lori says
I am making this for my home group (from another source) and came across your site by accident. I want to give you a tip about what else you can do with all those peels. Most commercial vitamin C today is made from genetically modified corn, so take those peels (fresh ones!), clean them well if they are not organic, then slice them up into thin pieces and lay them out to dry on baking racks. In several days (about a week or so) they will be perfectly dried out and hard. Run them through your food processor or break them up and put through your spice grinder. Take the powder and place in a dry jar. Take a teaspoon or so of this daily for your vitamin C as the peels are very high in vitamin C. Now you have a natural and healthy source of vitamin C for the entire family.
This powder can also be added to smoothies, cakes, icings, granola, just about anything you’d add orange peel to for flavor, but you will also be getting a boost of vitamin C.
I hope this helps you to find other things to do with your peels!
And if you still find you have too many, the compost pile would love them!
Blessings~
Lori
bumblev says
Fabulous idea! Thanks for passing that along, definitely going to give it a try.
Jaimee says
Hello, what do you do with the soaked peels? Are they able to be composted?