Thursday 28 June 2018

Gold Dust!

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 [95ÂșC] 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!




4 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. I wonder if it's possible to shave the zest and dry it, then remove the pith for firelighters?

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  3. That's an excellent idea!

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  4. I 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!

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