What To Do With Orange Peels: Part 2

It seems like forever since my last post.  Truth be known, I have had this post ready for some time now.  The catch being, I wanted to fine tune the attached video. I did a practice one when I first wrote this and had great intentions of doing a better instructional video.  Alas, this is not to be (for now).  The summer has been busy and I haven't been able to catch a family member to hold the camera; so until that happens, my experimental video will have to do. I will try to do better in the future... after all, Rome was not built in a day.

In my last post, you heard about my trials and tribulations as a child against my arch enemy the orange! I also shared one of my favourite green cleaners with you! I hope you have had a chance to make a batch of your own.  

Zesting & Freezing the Orange Peel

Another favourite use for the orange peels is to cook with them. Sometimes a recipe calls for just orange zest, but I have no need for the fruit and I am not hungry enough to eat it. In order to prepare myself for this eventuality, I will zest the oranges before peeling and sectioning the oranges. Then I put these fine shreds into a small wide mouth mason jar which is stored in the freezer. I make sure to put the new zest at the bottom if there is already zest in the jar (last in, first out). So the next time I need zest but no orange, I am prepared!

Sometimes, I already have two jars of cleaning solution in the fridge and have sectioned a number of oranges for a salad. Now what?  I don't want to waste that gorgeous peel so I remove the pith from the orange peel with a really sharp knife. Then toss it into, yes, a small wide mouth mason jar, and store it in the freezer until I need it.  When I use this orange peel, I will finely chop it as you will see later. 

I have prepared a short video tutorial to show you how I remove the pith. If you use a really sharp knife, you will be able to run it horizontally along the peel to remove the white pith. Mind your fingers!

Once I have removed the pith, I take the peels and pop into that glass mason jar to store in my freezer for another day.

Finely Chopping Orange Peel

 

Some recipes don't require the fine zest of orange (or lemon) peel and a finely chopped peel will do just fine.  When I need finely chopped orange peel,mi can grab whatever I need from my freezer.

I take each piece of peel and slice through the peel lengthwise, making very tiny ribbons.

Once the peel has been sliced into ribbons, I turn the pile and cit again in the opposing direction, creating a super tiny dice. If necessary, keeping chopping until your dice is as fine as you want it.

Keep in mind, that you can do this with lemons too. I have often used recipes that call for just the juice, so why not juice you lemons, remove the pith and save the peels for a rainy day!