I hate to see things go to waste so suggestions for my surplus please.

Have u had a bad day? sounds like it. Is that stupid boss of yours there? i liked your idea, lol but it doesn't sound like u. I believe new year's eve does bring out the bad in u.

Sorry Jo. I will be back to normal tomorrow. yes I will. he is making a surprise inspection to morrow and it is a public holiday by law. But now I will have to come in or endure his wrath. So, yes, I am angry that I cannot spend the day with my family. If I am not at work he will say that I am not showing enough interest in my work etc etc. will be okay tomorrow. It is today AND I GET PROGRSSIVELY WORSE AS TH DAY GOES ON. SO SORRY.

Really cynthiann, you should have gathered by now that there's no hiding behind walls allowed over here, you'd just bump into the pharmacist or someone. Now I've left you some cheery messages in my other discussion which you've been depressive all over. All the phone lines are down here on mobile lines so the Greek and I are cut adrift for new years. I have 3 invitations in the village but I don't want to take myself there, I prefer to be taken, as the roads will be awash with drunken drivers tonight. It's only a date so just ignore it all.

Suggestion - if there is a huge surplus and you really have more than you need, don't feel bad or guilty about declining. Just tell your friend that you have enough and you won't be able to use them all, so offer some to others so they don't go to waste. I love to accept fresh produce from people who have gardens, but I won't take things I can't use. My family can only eat so much in a given amount of time and I don't want baskets of things going bad when they could go to someone who may not even have enough food to eat.... I don't know if you have the same incidence of homeless or hungry people where you live but here it's a big problem. It's hidden to a point - I live in an area where I just don't see it daily, but if I go to the more seamy/old areas of town, it's apparent, and sad.

Hi Zandi, I know what you mean, when there's a glut of the things they are everywhere. Some of these are way to sour to just eat, which is probably why they work so well in the marmalade. I was in the village eariier and a friend of mine was saying come for some oranges, I have oranges for you. I felt guilty for declining them.

Fortunately there are no homeless or hungry people in our area.

Cut up a couole of them & put them in the freezer & see how they do. As many as u have from the way it sounds u want miss a couple if they don't do well.

That's true, I could do one bag with peel on and one of just segments and see if anything but mush remains. I have three willing orange suppliers and the Greek has 50 trees. His have more pips in than the local ones though but are easier to peel. It got so messy dealing with them all that I had to buy a box of something akin to surgical gloves as whatever acid they contain was making my fingernails go strangely soft.

Hi Aunty, you've got me wondering now if I could just acutally cut them up and freeze them but I imagine they would go a bit soggy. Pity I can't share them with you.

Definitely the juice can be frozen, people have frozen juice for years lol. I actually don't buy frozen concentrate these days but I see it all the time in the freezer cases at the grocery store. I don't really drink juice too often, so it's easier for me to get a bottle, it lasts a couple weeks in the fridge.

Hi lelin, you're back to blue again but still sailing in the middle. I'll help you to get it a bit safer when I see you. I've been sqeezing the juice into hot water and honey already, but I didn't know you could freeze the juice until Owlings said.

I don't even think they have frozen concentrated juices here, its all fresh so no need.

I am wondering what oranges would look like when faxed.

There was the story of the country policeman who had just had this brand new fax machine installed in his office so that he could communicate with his super's office in the town. He had done all the training and finally came the day when he had a document to send. After about half an hour of continuous spewing out of copy after copy of the same document at head office, his superintendent phoned to see if there was a problem. Paddy answers the phone: "To be sure there seems to be a problem, sor.", he says "I keep putting the letter into the machine and pressing the buttons and it keeps sending it right back out again!"

I'm not driving down to the supermarket now to fax oranges. Anyway their phone line is probably off.

Here are some piccies which might get your creative juices going: http://szewczykana.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/orange-clove/

I understand that, In Spain, the streets are lined with Seville oranges which are simply allowed to fall off the trees to rot. When an Englander suggests marmalade, the locals sneer and say that you can't do anything with them except make explosives (apparently orange oil can be made into an explosive). Orange oil, however, is apparently very good at shifting those stubborn sticky labels which people put on jars and bottles and sometimes stick to your windscreen when you park illegally in certain places.

Hi Owlings, well no one sticks stickers on here when we illegally park, but we also have many rotten oranges along the wayside, as orange trees even line the streets in the town centre. No one quite likes to pick them up as you never know who the tree belongs to, and a tree always belongs to someone. I like the sound of the cloved oranges but the weather is due to change tomorrow, so there won't be any warm dry places to hang them. Once the sun goes in and the rains start then cold and mould are the normal way, extremely unpleasant. The damp gets everywhere. I have lots of cloves so will see if I have any string tomorrow and perhaps chance hanging them outide under cover as it will probably be warmer than inside.

Hi cher, no, why search the internet when there's helpful mylotters here brimming over with suggestions, and usually taste tested first. Now we don't have any homeless people here so not a single homeless shelter to donate them to. We only have olive presses but I do have a juicer. But I had no idea at all that one could freeze orange juice. Can you really do that with oranges?

Certainly you can freeze orange juice. We used to buy frozen packs of concentrated orange juice (about 250ml) which you added to a pint of water and - hey presto - fresh, chilled orange juice!

Ok newbie - I am reporting you now for scamming, do not do it in my discussions.

then there ya go. actually..a chocolate and orange cake sounds mighty good right now. maybe driving slob will take me to the store tomorrow.

I love orange and chocolate together actually.

No one needs oranges here. They are everywhere now.

Double espresso for you and me then...~

What a lovely thought Zed, a nice glass of orange juice together. Make mine a coffee though.

Oranges and tangerines, enough for a bit of juice. never heard of having it hot though...

That reminds me to raid my friends mandarani tree soon, completely different to oranges, and need to be cut off with scissors. My son can eat a dozen a day of those, but doesn't want to eat all these oranges. Hot juice is lovely, especially if you spice it up a bit.

It's probably hotter over there than it will be here so more refreshing to drink. I'll make some hot juice with honey and ginger though. Have you got lots too?

Malpoa, your marmalade was meant to be bitter, that's the secret of good marmalade, you do leave the white pith on. The commercial stuff is sweet and not the ideal, marmalade should zing. Oh I'm so glad you met a real Greek. I expect he would be surpised that you knew about the olives. The avatars son looks nothing like the avatar actually, a very quiet soul, last seen with a sack of my olives on his head as if they were no more heavy than a hat.

Hi Malpoa, well I've been squeezing them and drinking hot juice with honey as I had a cold. The Greek gave me lots though and just said throw them and he'll give me less next time. The reason I didn't use them all was low on jars and the shop has been closed. I've got a few left though and I'm going to try mandarini marmalade in a little bit as we were picking them yesterday. No danger of a surplus there though as my son loves eating them. Now they smelt wonderful straight from the tree, but a lot were out of reach. I'm sure the marmalade will be more to your taste though as the fruits are much sweeter.

There certainly are small dehydration units Thea, but they take hours to dry a small quantity of fruit. Dehydrated mango slices are REALLY tasty. While I prefer fresh mango, of course, the dehydrated slices are great through most of the year when fresh ones are not available.

Hi PastorP, I'm afraid I'm sadly lacking in the orange dehydration machine department, in fact I've never even heard of such a thing. Of course we have dried figs, plums and prunes but I've never seen dried oranges. Do they really make a machine for that purpose?

Aye, I meant a general dehydration machine, not just for oranges. We had one here and used it for all sorts of fruits, but like the other respondent said, it takes a lot of time.

hi ms Tickle, I have to say after standing in a grove of dropped oranges today with them rotting everywhere underfoot, whilst picking mandarinis, it seems easiest to take the advice of the person who gave them which is never mind, I'll give you less next time. They are just falling and wasting everywhere. A mandarini tree though is a rarity here and no chance of any of those going to waste as my son can eat them all day.

Hi callarsel, I couldn't possibly sell them on as they were given to me for my marmalade venture. Most people here have plenty of oranges available to them anyway from their own trees or their friends trees. I've got some ideas though from this discussion.

Hi jillhill, that's a good idea actually, I grate them into cakes but could do the same with bread too, it might even make the marmalade more tasty. Good one. At the moment I'm working on trying to freeze them cut up.

Hi bunnybon, in our small community we have no homeless, no hungry, no food bank, no salvation army. The children already have plenty of fresh oranges to eat. Society has not disintegrated here.

Hi savypat, yes owlwings came up with that one on page one, and there's pictures as well. I'd never heard of that one before at all.