I eat a lot of oranges- and would much prefer an orange to an apple any day [although I do enjoy apples when cooked, or chopped into a salad] 
But unlike apples, I don't eat the peel, but it seems a waste to put it in the food recycling, Then I came across an idea for using citrus peels. You cut off the zest very finely before peeling.
I have an Oxo Good Grips Zester which does this brilliantly. Here's a grapefruit which has just had the treatment. I put the peel on a chopping board, and leave it on the kitchen windowsill all day in the hot sun.
It dries into golden crisps. Then I reduce it to powder - first by rolling over it firmly with my rolling pin, then using the end of the pin inside my little glass storage jar, like a mortar and pestle. If it is winter time, you can dry the peel in a cool oven [95ºC] for a couple of hours instead. 
I end up with a few spoonfuls of gold dust! This is brilliant for added a citrussy tang to cupcakes- just a sprinkle into the sponge mix, and a little more on top of the white icing. Or a fruity dusting on top of a salad [I'm with Yotam Ottolenghi on this, he says all salads benefit from a little bit of fruit somewhere]
I love the fact that something which would have been food waste is now giving food taste, and that I can use free solar power to make it.
Enjoy this lovely sunshine whilst it lasts!
I must try drying my citrus peel. It sounds like it would be a very useful thing to have in my cupboard. I usually dry the whole pieces of peel and save them as firelighters.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it's possible to shave the zest and dry it, then remove the pith for firelighters?
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteI am definitely going to try this! I have bags of orange rind, saved from my homegrown oranges, in the freezer and I add them to cakes and things. But drying and powdering them would take less space for storage!
ReplyDelete