What to do with oranges?

[HannaLee]

I have been making lots of Orange Pineapple Marmalade (but not in the microwave) and drinking lots of Orange Smoothies. But what else is there to do with oranges? Any other ideas on how to preserve them? I'd appreciate recipes, too, if you have them.

[Crazy4Canning]

I've added them to spiced honey and canned it.

 

Dried the peels for adding to tea mixes and popouri (sp?)

 

In one of my pre-Depression cookbooks, they would candy the peel and can it. I'm not sure if you can still do that safely.

 

Ummmm...I used to have an early 1920's book on Oranges....when they first became readily available. I'll try to dig it out soon.

 

 

 

 

[Violet]

Make microwave lemon and orange curd and freeze it. I have only made the lemon so far, but want to try lime, mandarin, and orange flavors.

Here is the recipe I use. Easy, too. It freezes beautifully.

 

Microwave Lemon Curd

2- 3 fresh lemons

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Finely grate the lemon peel. Squeeze lemons to make 1/2 cup lemon juice into a microwaveable 4 cup container. Stir in rind, butter, and sugar.Microwave uncovered on high for 1 and 1/2- 2 minutes. or until butter melts and mixture is hot.

Beat eggs in a bowl. Gradually add the hot lemon mixture to the eggs, stir constantly. Return to the microwave container and microwave on med. for another 1- 2 min., stir every 30 seconds, until it is thickened. Do not boil. It will thicken as it cools.

Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for longer storage.

Makes 1 2/3 cups.

Variations:

Use 1 lime, tangerine, or orange in place of one lemon.

 

Some people dry them, grind and use the dried powder to flavor icings and things. You can grate the peels and freeze it.

My husband loves cappuccino caramels, too. I have the recipe someplace.

You can juice the oranges and freeze the juice, but won't be as good as fresh tasting juice to drink. You are able to can orange segments,too. Best with half grapefruit, but you can do plain oranges.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/grapefruit_orange.html

You can also freeze the orange segments :

Freezing

Citrus Fruits

Preparation – Select firm, tree-ripened fruit heavy for its size and free from soft spots. Wash and peel. Divide fruit into sections, removing all membranes and seeds. Slice oranges if desired. For grapefruit with many seeds, cut fruit in half and remove seeds; cut or scoop out sections.

 

Syrup Pack – Pack fruit into containers. Cover with cold 40 percent syrup made with excess fruit juice or water. Leave headspace. Seal and freeze.

 

Juice – Select fruit as directed for sections. Squeeze juice from fruit, using squeezer that does not press oil from rind.

 

Sweeten with 2 tablespoons sugar for each quart of juice or pack without sugar. Pour juice into containers immediately. To avoid development of off-flavors, pack juice in glass jars. Leave headspace. Seal and freeze.

 

 

 

[Crazy4Canning]

Oh yes...I've grated the rind off, dried it and put it in a container for flavoring frostings and cake.

 

One of my dad's favorite cakes is an orange peel cake with orange peel frosting. He can't tell that the oranges aren't freshly zested.

[Ambergris]

C4C, I am also interested in the old recipes for citrus.

 

Hannalee, if you stumble across any boxes of whole cloves for very cheap, you can make a cloved orange for each closet. Take a nail and punch holes through your orange's peel, just the outer layer, about a clove's diameter apart. You can make designs by leaving lines of orange uncovered, but keep the lines no thicker than a baby's finger. Push the stem end of each clove through a hole, and then the white stuff. The cloves will preserve the orange. It will get dry and hard over time, but will retain a spicy, fruity scent that helps keep moths out of your closet.

 

Also, make candied peel for numerous recipes, including chocolate-orange candy and orange syrup.

 

Juice six or eight oranges. Set juice aside.

 

Simmer the peels gently for 10-15 minutes, then dump the water and set the peels aside to cool. Cut peels into strips of a handy width and then use a good paring knife to cut off the white stuff from the inside. This is tedious, but keep your perspective--it beats skinning catfish.

 

Put strips in saucepan with four cups cold water. Bring to boil. Dump water out through a sieve, and rinse peels with cold water while they lie in the sieve. When the peels are cool enough to handle, slice them into matchsticks. I know a lady who does this with a rolling cutter, but after trying to completely wash that contraption I went back to a paring knife. The matchsticks don't have to be perfect, but don't let them stay too thick.

 

Put two cups cold water, two cups white sugar, and half a cup of brown sugar in your pan and stir while bringing to a boil. When syrup hits a boil, cut the heat to low. Pour in the peels, stirring, and simmer for half an hour or so. The peels should look like candy, sort of translucent. If not, cook until they do.

 

Pour about two cups of white sugar into a paper bag, or a plastic bowl with a tight lid.

 

Using a slotted spoon, fish the matchsticks out of the syrup and drop into the dry sugar. Do not try to fish out the last dozen or so matchsticks. Close the container and shake it up good.

 

Let the syrup cool, continuing to give your container an occasional shake, then pour all but a cup and a half or so into a syrup jar. Set the jar aside and treat like any sugar syrup. Use it to make your next batch of marmalade, maybe. Or sweeten some tea. Too bad all the figs are long gone, because I bet it'd make jam-up fig preserve syrup.

 

What's left in the pan will get some special treatment. It should have several bits of peel left in it. If not, take a few out of the container and drop them in. Stir in the orange juice. Stir in a teaspoon of ginger and a half teaspoon of apple pie spice. If you have a pinch of coiander, that's a good addition. Simmer until it's as concentrated as you like, then put up in a jar. This is popular for pancakes.

 

Now turn back to the peels. If you're sick of dealing with them, you can stop shaking them and set them aside once they're cool. Dry-packed in that sugar, they will stay good on the counter as many days as you need to wait. Mine often get tossed in the back of the fridge for a few months, until all the fresh citrus is eaten up.

 

When you're ready for orange-chocolate bark, melt two to four ounces of semisweet chocolate (you can make it up from the cocoa powder) along with a teaspoon of shortening (not butter!) for each two ounces. Stir in as many of the candied matchsticks as will get eaten in the next week or so and pour out onto a greased sheet of butcher paper or brown paper. Using a rocking motion, cut into rectangles or triangles. The rocking motion will cut through the peels, or most of them. Let sit to cool, then cut again along the same lines. This usually doesn't last a week, but I haven't seen it go off except in very hot weather.

 

You can line up several matchsticks of candied peel, cut across them until they're less than half the size of rice grains, and cook them up with grits, risotto, or rice pudding.

 

You can mince the candied peel and stir it into spice cookies, carrot cake, nutbread, or gingerbread.

 

The candied peel is good for mulled cider, wassail, hot herb teas.

 

The candied peel is good in frostings. You can make a simple sugar glaze with some finely minced peel for a plain poundcake, and listen to the compliments pour in. You can stir into a cream cheese frosting and watch how it hides all the crumbs that would normally mar a primo frosting job.

 

The candied peel is good in stir-fries. Try a three-finger pinch of it, added with the hard vegetables.

 

When the peel is gone, use the sugar for anything from Kool-Ade to cake to cornbread to frying batter. Adds just that little touch of sunshine.

[Leah]

I do very similar for candying the peels, except in some of the pans I leave the white on, it makes it very bitter and in some things bitter is good.

You can boil the white bits by themselves and get a very good bitters for drinks, if you use them in cocktails. Those little bottles are expensive!

 

[twilap]

I just canned the OJ using a pressure canner at 10-lbs pressure for 15 minures. The juice-water seperates but when shook up it re-mixes fine and and tastes like fresh OJ. Won a blue ribbon at the Apache County Fair in 1999 for my home canned OJ.

[Canned Nerd]

I'm curious why you would pressure can an acidic product like OJ instead of using a Boiling Water Canner.

 

[HannaLee]

Twilap

 

I make OJ Frosties like this:

 

4 peeled oranges with as much pith remaining as possible

4 cups kefir or raw milk

up to 1/2 cup sweetener (rapadura, etc.) to taste, if desired

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups ice cubes

 

Add to blender and blend 30 seconds until smooth. This tastes just like an Orange Julius!

 

 

Could I just blend oranges into liquid and can it to use in this recipe year-round? Is the time you provided for pints of quarts? I use quarts usually, since I have a large family. I'm interested, too, why a pressure canning rather than BWB?

 

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Crazy4Canning

 

Since I am new to canning, could you please give a little more specifics on your spiced honey oranges? That sounds really good!

 

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Would canned orange slices, preserved with a light syrup, taste like fresh? How would they be used, normally?

 

 

 

 

[HannaLee]

bumpitybump

[zoombies]

I am specifically interested in canning recipes that use oranges. Could some of these please be posted. Also, if anyone does have a way to can the juice in a tasty manner that would be great too. thanks

[Josephine]

Originally Posted By: zoombies

I am specifically interested in canning recipes that use oranges. Could some of these please be posted.

Here's a link to canning citrus. Here's another one.

[suzann]

I just canned oranges yesterday..

 

This is what I did...

 

I had 6 large oranges..peeled them and seperated into slices.

 

made a syrup consisting of:

 

4 3/4 cups water

1 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups sugar

 

 

 

bring all of this to a boil

 

meanwhile put your orange slices into jars ( I used 6 pint jars) do not stuff but pack firmly.

 

pour syrup over oranges leaving a 1/4 head space

 

remove air bubbles..put lids on and water bath for 15 minutes.