Have I Invented a New 'Snack'
@owlwings (43910)
Cambridge, England
May 3, 2017 11:17am CST
The other day I was peeling an orange and was about to throw away the peel but stopped myself because it had such a beautiful aroma.
"Hey!", I said to myself, "We use this in marmalade and buy it in tubs cooked in sugar (a long and complex process to do at home) but I don't want to make marmalade and, when I want candied mixed peel, I can buy it. Lemons are delicious preserved in salt, so why not orange peel?"
I had tried drying peel before (there are some Chinese recipes which call for dried tangerine peel) but it was rather bitter and I thought that some salt might cure the bitterness so I cut the peel into thin strips and put them to boil with a little water and salt. After cooking for about 15 minutes, I took then off the heat and allowed them to cool. Then I strained them and spread them out on a drying rack in a very cool oven until they were dry and crisp.
They have retained their colour nicely and still have an intense orange flavour which wouldn't go well with wine but could marry with a vodka or a tequila nicely. I also tried powdering them in a mortar and using them as a rub for some chicken breast, which worked very well. The bright yellow colour was delightful and the orange flavour and saltiness went well with the meat. I would expect it to be even better with duck, too.
As 'nibbles', I think that the salty, slightly bitter crispness is very good.
I have searched the Internet for anything similar and the only thing I can find is someone who tried a similar thing by mixing the peel with dry salt. The suggestion was that they used the flavoured salt in casseroles which benefited from an orange flavouring (such as duck or pork). They didn't seem to have thought of cooking the peel or drying it as I did.
My next experiment will involve some chili as well as salt, I think!
How do you use orange peel in cooking? Do you just use the zest (the yellow part) or do you enjoy the bitterness of the white pith as well?
Incidentally, in my researches, it seems that dried orange peel repels mice. Has anyone tried that and does it work?
17 people like this
15 responses
@LadyDuck (471356)
• Switzerland
3 May 17
I keep all my orange peels and I freeze them, because I use them for cooking and in cakes. Dried orange peels and cloves closed in sachets repels moths and give a good smell to the drawers. I used salted lemons and I never thought to try with oranges. The idea to use the salted rind with a vodka or a tequila is very tempting. Thanks for this great idea.
3 people like this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
3 May 17
I see that, like me, you have an inventive turn of mind. In my mother's day we would have used dried orange peel and cloves as part of a pot pourri (along with dried rose petals and other things). Now that you can buy scents in bottles and all sorts of electronic gadgets which you plug into the wall, I suppose that very few people now do it the old way and have a bowl of dried stuff on the table to fragrance the whole room!
If I want the flavour of orange in things I would usually take just the zest (the yellow bit) either with a vegetable peeler or a grater. I must say that it hadn't really occured to me to freeze it but that makes a lot of sense. I did wonder (though I haven't tried it) about steeping the zest in oil to keep the flavour. That seems to work with bay, rosemary and lemon
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (471356)
• Switzerland
4 May 17
@owlwings 
I live the new word "Charmalade" and now that you mention, I think to remember that my father used to spread the solid result once filtered. I do not know why the cream added to the Limoncello to make Cremoncello does not curdle. If I find the original recipes, I let you know.
I live the new word "Charmalade" and now that you mention, I think to remember that my father used to spread the solid result once filtered. I do not know why the cream added to the Limoncello to make Cremoncello does not curdle. If I find the original recipes, I let you know.1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471356)
• Switzerland
5 May 17
@owlwings Cremoncello is very good, I used to make it because my mother loves it, it's not too strong. I like Bailey's more than Kaluha, a little Bailey's added to the coffee is very pleasant. Your rum and cream topping sounds delicious and very appropriate for a coconut cheesecake.
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
A Golden Nose? Is that a German idiom or one of your delightful inventions? The Man with the Golden Nose sounds like the title of a thriller - or perhaps a biography of Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer who lost part of his nose in a sword fight and so wore a prosthetic nose made, it was reputed, from gold (though it was actually more likely brass).
That reminds me of the old joke about the dog with no nose - "No nose? How does he smell?" .... "Terrible!"
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
@MALUSE I like that expression. I was trying to think of anything equivalent in English which means something similar. We have 'to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth' which means 'to be born into an upper-class family and rich by inheritance' and 'having the Midas touch' (everything that King Midas touched turned to gold). My wanderings led me to a fascinating page with a collection of 'colourful language' from many nations. As you also, I believe, like language and idiom, you might appreciate it too.
Here it is! There are over 1,000 idioms across almost 50 languages.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
3 May 17
That's a great invention! I would think that boiling would take away the flavor but I'm glad it did not. I might try that next time there is an orange in the house.
That's also a great idea for people who like to set aside food for emergencies. I wonder if the peel retains any vitamins?
2 people like this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
The water I boiled the peel in was certainly yellowish but didn't have sufficient orange flavour in it when I tasted it to be worth saving. When I pound the boiled and dried peel in a mortar, the orange smell is very strong so that somebody walking into the room remarked "My! That smells good!"
I'm not sure that orange peel contains much in the way of vitamins (most, if not all of the vitamin C in an orange is in the juice) and boiling destroys vitamin C
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (47279)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
3 May 17
The vitamins would probably be boiled out into the water.
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@much2say (55582)
• Los Angeles, California
3 May 17
I am guilty of throwing the peels away . . . I really should make an effort to do something with them - we have our own tangelo and orange trees! Growing up when we had Japanese soba noodles on New Year's Eve, one of the toppings my mom put on this buckwheat noodle soup was finely minced raw orange peels (zest, pith, all). Usually there is some "meaning" to the ingredients used in New Year's foods, but I can't find any information on that except to say my mother liked the fragrance of it. Salted orange peel - quite interesting!!
3 people like this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
I believe that giving anything round (such as oranges) is part of a Chinese New Year tradition and perhaps others as well (in Spain they eat 12 grapes on New Year's Eve to symbolise the completion or intended successful completion of 12 months), so perhaps there might have been an indirect 'meaning' behind the use of minced orange peel - representing something round - on your soba noodle soup.
The recipe for New Year Soba (Toshikoshi Soba) that I found online makes no mention of oranges or anything like it. The soup seems to have a fish-based broth with a topping of green onion. Perhaps your mother just liked the flavour of orange peel with the fish, which I think would work well.
2 people like this
@much2say (55582)
• Los Angeles, California
5 May 17
@owlwings See, I could not find any information on the minced orange peel either! It does go well with the noodle soup - and it looks pretty besides (the orange color against all the gray, drab colored ingredients). Maybe it symbolizes my mom's Japanese cooking and how I've been fooled to think it had traditional significance 
!
!1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (47279)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
3 May 17
Sometimes I'll put a bit of orange peel in my tea, but usually just discard it. 
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
I have seen tea flavoured with orange peel and, in fact, the essential ingredient of Earl Grey tea is bergamot oil, where bergamot is a particular kind of orange not used for much else besides the oil from the skin. There is also a herb called Bergamot (a species of mint), which is used in perfumery as well and also to make a tisane but that is not the ingredient used in Earl Grey.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
5 May 17
@BarBaraPrz We were once given a packet of Constant Comment by an American friend. It was pleasant enough but a little too 'scented' for my liking. Rumour has it that, when they dumped all the tea into Boston Harbour, the Americans had to find something else to drink and so invented Constant Comment! 
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@BarBaraPrz (47279)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
4 May 17
@owlwings It was Constant Comment tea that gave me the idea in the first place.
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@Chantiele (433)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Oct 17
I have never tried to cook orange peel before. I like the idea that you want to add a chilli salt to it. It could be an interesting combination of salty, sweet and spicy.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
21 Oct 17
Surely, you have made marmalade? Or maybe SA exports all its oranges to the UK!
The 'next experiment' hasn't happened yet. [Adds oranges to shopping list. Notes: Have chilis. have salt].
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
3 May 17
Just the zest.... But usually lemon.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
6 May 17
neat idea! I have a dehydrator, I bet that would be useful in that process as well
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
6 May 17
I have several times thought about getting (or making) a dehydrator but we don't really have space for one now. I'm sure that one could use it for drying peel. It actually took very little time in the oven (which was warm from previous use).
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
8 May 17
@owlwings I used to use mine tons, havent in awhile, about time to make jerky and some dried apples. it does take up some space, but has a home on top of the fridge
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
That sounds an exciting experiment. The batch I made are rather over-salted (to the point of having that 'bite' which too much salt has) but I'm going to try the next batch with a little less salt. I think you are right that the mixture of orange flavour, slight bitterness and the saltiness would go very well with chocolate.
I don't believe that the Aztecs had any citrus fruits but I'm quite sure that they would have used them, just as the chili and the tomato has become indispensible in many Eastern cuisines since the Portuguese introduced them.
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@responsiveme (22926)
• India
4 May 17
Will definitely try it out as in summer oranges are not available and this way can store them
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
In the past I have taken the zest (just the top, yellow layer) with a potato peeler and dried that but it does tend to go brownish unless dried very carefully and seems to change the character of the smell/taste. You can certainly freeze the peel successfully but drying it would be more convenient, perhaps.
Here, we can buy oranges all the year round but the best ones are definitely available in the winter and early spring.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
4 May 17
@responsiveme I get the impression that oranges aren't much grown in India. I know you have limes and lemons and other citrus fruits but I don't see oranges featuring much in traditional Indian cuisine. Perhaps I'm wrong or perhaps they have become more popular in relatively recent times.
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@responsiveme (22926)
• India
4 May 17
@owlwings I,'ll try freezing them too...Am not a very good cook I am afraid.
Sometimes in summer oranges are available at exorbitant prices from the other side of the country....But I prefer the fresh winter ones
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@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
14 Jun 17
Now, that is cool inventing a new snack. I have wanted to invent things. I have a mobility scooter and it is cold in the winter and even here in Jerusalem we have winter. It isn't winter like I grew up with in Minneapolis. I tried something and it didn't work. I also wanted to invent something to get rid of the rain on my plastic. We cannot use windshield wipers on the plastic. Now, I am thinking of this glove I got here that if you cannot groom your animal and pet the animal you just brush the animal with the glove and they are soft and smooth. I was thinking of maybe selling that to people that their animals do not let them take care of them. Just a thought.
