Know Your Food: Orange – Respect Food
— 03.02.2020

Know Your Food: Orange

Orange is a part of our daily life in many shapes and forms. As a juice, as an ingredient in our meals or as fruit enjoyed in slices; it adds taste to our daily lives. Let’s take a closer look, and learn how to make the most of this vitamin-filled, nutritious fruit without creating any waste.

Orange juice is a pretty good way for a fresh start in the morning, but what to do with leftover orange peels?

1- You can add the normally discarded, orange peels to your water to have a fresh flavored drink all day long.

2-You can use the orange peels to make herbal tea with a refreshing flavor. First, grab the fresh or dried peels, add some water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring to a simmer and allow it to brew for a few hours. Once it has rested, strain the peels, and your tea is ready. 

3-You can use the leftover peels as a fertilizer by mixing them into your plants’ soil. 

4-You can cut up orange peels into small bits or grate them into ice cubes. Once they’re ready, you can use them to add little touches to your smoothies or iced teas.

5- You can use the peels to make a sauce. Once you have the orange peels, add a little sugar and orange juice. Cook these three thoroughly by crushing them well in the pot and create a delicious sauce that you can use for your meals.

6- You can use the orange peels to make cookies. To use your leftover peels finely chop them and add it to your regular cookie dough and bake it like according to your regular recipe.

7-You can dry the remaining orange peels and then turn them into powdered orange by grinding them. You can use orange powder any time you like. They will be the crown of your cookies and cupcakes.

8-You can mix the orange peels with olive oil. Shake well every day, and after a few weeks, you will see that they have fully flavored olive oil with a beautiful zesty aroma. It will make a delicious sauce for your salads.

9- You can start your day with a very nutritious breakfast by making scrambled eggs with diced orange peels.

10-You can boil your orange peels with a little sugar and water. After cooking, strain and add some more sugar. Orange candies are ready!

When shopping we should always shop according to our needs, buying only as necessary but what if we end up with more oranges than we thought? Here are a few tips to avoid excess orange from going to waste: 

1- Freezing oranges and getting them out of the freezer when needed is one sure-way to extend their lives. You can grate the frozen oranges and use them in salads, desserts, meals, ice creams, yogurts, and many more dishes.

2- One of the easiest and delicious ways to extend shelf-life of fruits: making jams or marmalades. You don’t need the whole fruit you can use leftover orange peels to avoid waste from the start. 

3- You can add orange slices to your fish, beef, or chicken dishes while cooking or use them in your salads.

4- You can squeeze your oranges and turn their juice into ice cubes. You can store them in a freezer bag and take as much as you need whenever you want to use it.

There are many ways to use oranges. One of them is cleaning. Thanks to the acid in its peels, orange is a mighty cleaner. You can make a natural cleaner at home by mixing it with a little vinegar. After each use, you will see your house transform into an orange grove.

We are blessed to have the food this world has to offer. The leftovers that go to trash are a waste of the diminishing resources necessary for our future. When we waste food, we also increase our already large carbon footprint hurting the planet’s chances of replenishing itself.

A keystone of sustainability is to use resources in a way that avoids the depletion of natural resources, which means avoiding waste and buying only as much as needed and using every aspect of the ingredients from peel to core. Orange is a fantastic example of food we can use from skin to core in addition to its excellent taste and cleaning abilities. 

Even the smallest steps can help protect our future, and those steps start at home.