ORANGE YOU GLAD YOU RECYCLE?

What do you do with orange peel scraps?

They make a good addition to potpourri or you can simply put the peel in a dish, break them up to release the citrus oils and place them in a inconspicuous place to release their fragrance. You can tie them in the mesh bag that they came in and put them in a closet or pantry. I have done all of those things but my favorite is to dry them and make orange zest.

I try to use stuff I have sitting around to make the process more economical (CHEAP!!).

Two lovely naval oranges

After I eat the orange, or better yet, put it in fruit salad, I remove as much of the white inside part of the peeling as I can and cut the orange part into small strips to make the drying faster. Here is my super cheap drying rack.

It is a recycled piece of styrofoam sitting on top of my paper plate holders (that we no longer use and need to go to the thrift but I am putting that off just in case we need them for something). They are inside a cabinet that we don't use every day. It takes 1 to 2 weeks to dry them depending on how thick they are and the humidity and if you forget them or not.

The other thing you need is a mini grinder. This is one that I used for coffee beans at one time.

I also use a recycled spice bottle to store the pulverized peel in.
Pack the grinder full and pulverize away. A very fine powder works the best. You can put the small chunks back in for one more whirl.

I have seen lots of these in thrift stores for cheap. $2-3 or yard sales.

Two naval oranges yield about one spice container full. It took four loads in the small grinder to finish all of the dried peel from the two oranges.

I only use oranges for the zest if they are sweet and juicy. I figure that if the orange insides taste good then the peel can't be half bad. This amount will probably last me at least a year. It only takes about 1/8 of a teaspoon in most recipes.I haven't had any lemons lately, but I do the same thing for them.

A..B..C...ah..... here we go into the spice cabinet.

What YOU don't alphabetize?