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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

What to Make and Do with Oranges ~ Citrus Series


"The Orange.— It is supposed to be indigenous to Central and Eastern Asia. Whatever its nativity, it has now spread over all the warmer regions of the earth. The orange tree is very hardy in its own habitat, and is one of the most prolific of all fruit-bearing trees, a single tree having been known to produce twenty thousand good oranges in a season. Orange trees attain great age. There are those in Italy and Spain which are known to have flourished for six hundred years. Numerous varieties of the orange are grown, and are imported to our markets from every part of the globe. Florida oranges are among the best, and when obtained in their perfection, are the most luscious of all fruits."
~ Mrs. E.E. Kellogg, Science in the Kitchen, 1893 


Make Your Own Orange Peel Granules for the Pantry



DIY Frugal Version ~ On Guard® or Thieves® Protective Oil Blend


DIY Orange Flavored Kombucha

Add freshly squeezed orange juice to your 2nd ferment of kombucha (we do approx. 20% juice per 80% kombucha ratio). You will also have better "fizz" results if you do your second ferment in a snap-lidded bottle (just make sure you "burp" the bottle once or twice a day to avoid bottle explosion from built up carbonation).

Homemaking Hint: It is less expensive to purchase a lemonade in one of these bottles for $3.99 at Cost Plus and then recycle them for all your kombucha ferments. 


















If you enjoyed these ideas, you may also be interested in What to Make and Do with Lemons.



34 comments:

  1. What a beautiful, mouth watering post. Sometimes I think oranges are the only reason I can make it through winter without plunging into a dismal abyss. They don't grow in my area, but when the fresh shipments arrive we take full advantage. That's an incredible amount of oranges to come from one tree in the quote you shared.
    Have a great day!
    Toni

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    1. We are fortunate to be surrounded by orchards (but with that comes the oh so un-lovely humidity of the climate)... There is nothing like that fresh dose of vitamin c to keep that smile on your face in the cold months. Happy Wednesday to you! :)

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  2. I love the taste and smell of oranges, particularly in the winter. It just brightens up the whole house. These are some wonderful ideas to go beyond the usual.

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    1. Thank you Amy for taking the time to visit and comment! :)

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  3. These are some wonderful ideas! I love orange everything :)

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    1. Thank you Sherry! It is quite the cheery fruit for winter! :) Thank you for stopping by!

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  4. Oooh I love this post. I have some oranges in the fridge calling my name now.

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  5. What a useful post! I love the scent of oranges and always dry them out but its good to have other ideas too! I'm new to the homestead blog hop and I'm slowly making my way through having a look at everyone's blogs!

    http://nancystraughan.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. There are so many fun things you can do with dried oranges! I do hope you give some of these ideas a try. Glad you visited! :)

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  6. Thank you for sharing so many things to do with oranges! I love to eat them, and just dried some the other day for the first time.

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    1. How fun! I am sure your home smelled amazing! Hope some of these ideas work for you! Thank you for stopping by Lori :)

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  7. Thank you for sharing this! I didn't know there were so many uses for orange peels.
    Love,
    Ashley
    creatingpreciousmoments.blogspot.com

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    1. They are a fun and useful little fruit! :) Thank you for taking the time to visit Ashley :)

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  8. Oranges in the winter always remind me of Christmas time when the school's FFA would sell fruit. My family would buy a box, and there were usually oranges and grapefruit. Nowadays, my husband loves, loves, loves grapefruit, and we store it in our chilly garage. It smells so nice out there :)

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    1. Oh, I am sure it smells fabulous! Thank you for sharing Jody! :)

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  9. I just love all these ideas, Jes! I need to get back on and print these jewels off.

    Now if I want to make this to help with the medicinal side, what one would I do? Have you ever done an orange tincture or what would work? I like all the health benefits oranges provide.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Hugs, Amy

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    1. Interesting about the orange tincture... Never thought of that or even know if it is done. That would basically be "orange extract" used in baking and such... The easiest method would probably be to add the peels into your tea to treat coughs, colds, flu, fevers, and bronchitis... Hope this helps! :)

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  10. I love the smell of oranges. Orange and spice is one of my favorite smells. I am going to try your bath powder.
    Thanks for sharing on this week's blog hop!
    http://oursimplelife-sc.com/our-simple-homestead-blog-hop-34/

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  11. The citrus grilling salt sound phenomenal! You always share the most wonderful things, dear JES, and I greatly appreciate your posts.

    Thank you so much for joining Roses of Inspiration this week. Hugs and joy to you!

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    1. Thank you for hosting such a lovely party! :)

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  12. Your natural love for the family and the house make me always feel at home, you're such a blessed creature, my dearest one !
    Your suggestions are always precious advices to preserve and keep in a notebook for not to be forgotten, since they come from ancient knowledge, and I love you for this too !
    Thinking of you with much love and esteem
    Dany

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    1. What a joy it is to read your sweet comments! Have a lovely week, dear friend!

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  13. I adore oranges and I sorely miss our wonderful orange tree we had when we lived in the valley here in California. I have a potted Mandarin, but it's just not quite the same. Hopefully, some day, we will build a permanent greenhouse that will support an Orange tree. We'll see. Thank you for sharing all of these "recipes"!

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    1. May your mandarin grow nice and strong! :) Thank you for visiting Vickie!

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  14. Great ideas! Thanks for linking up to Simply Natural Saturdays.

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  15. This is a very timely post on oranges, since this is their season to shine! I have dried orange peel and made orange oil and orange vinegar, both of which are really awesome! I enjoyed seeing all the other wonderful things to make with oranges, and was interested in the orange body scrub, sounds lovely! Always appreciate your posts, JES, they are full of great information! Have a blessed Sunday :)

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  16. Dearest JES! I could truly smell the lovely scent of orange as I read your beautiful, inspiring post! What a lot of thought and love you poured into sharing such a post! Now I feel very inspired to try some new citrus ideas this coming Autumn! What fun!
    Sending hugs your way...
    Kelly-Anne

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  17. Such a great round up of uses! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  18. My Mom's family lives in FL and when we were growing up my grandparents would send us a big box of FL oranges. They were wonderful! I need to figure out how to get some this winter. Your post reminded me of those boxes, and have me craving some now. Thanks JES, I'll pin so that I can use some of these ideas when I do find my box! (Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop!)

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  19. I never knew I could do so much with my oranges Thanks for sharing on A Wise Woman Builds Her Home. All I do is freeze the peels for the garbage disposal.

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  20. I LOVE oranges, what a great collection of ideas for the peels! Thanks for sharing on Homestead Blog Hop!

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  21. What a wonderful post this is, full of so many things I want to try! I just love the smell of oranges and I can't wait to bring some spring into my winter home. So glad I saw this on the Simple Homestead Blog Hop. :)

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