Make the alcohol infusion in a pint-sized jar with grain alcohol and desired botanicals (including dried orange peels), shaking daily for 14 days. Wrap a fresh peel around the end of a wooden spoon to make classic citrus twists to garnish cocktails, or make your own cocktail bitters with dried orange peels. They also add excellent flavor to mulled wine or cider. The dried peels can be used for all sorts of beverages to make a citrusy tea, mince the peels, then mix with black tea and other desired spices such as cardamom, lavender, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger. Spread them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes at 200✯. If you’re short on time, the peels can also be dried in the oven.

Leave the strips on a plate in a warm, sunny area with their insides facing upwards until crisp (about 2-3 days). Peel the fruit, leaving the pith – the bitter white substance between the peel and the fruit – behind. To add some extra flavor and zest to tea, liquor, or wintery mulled beverages, dry your own lemon, orange, tangerine, or other citrus peels to add to the mix. If you plan on eating the peel, however, be sure to buy organic fruit.Īs much as 40% of our national food supply is wasted, but there are plenty of ways to keep these rinds out of the trash.

They can be candied, incorporated into beverages, zested over your favorite dishes, or even used to start a summer campfire. The peels may carry even more nutritional benefits than the fruit inside: just one tablespoon of orange peel supplies 3x more vitamin C than the fruit, and 4x more fiber. Lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, clementines, or any of your other favorite citrus fruits can be used in their entirety.

As much as we love composting, citrus peels are too valuable to be tossed.

Clementine peel