Making dried orange peel! These can be used for baths, hot teas or ciders, potpourri, or witchcraft! The process is extremely simple, and makes the entire house smell nice and fresh (which is also a good way to cleanse and banish negative energies in the home, as I’ve noticed). You can also do this with lemons, it’s the same process and the same usage!
The process: -Get a large amount of healthy oranges with unblemished skin. Be sure to wash the oranges and scrub them lightly, because they are often coated with lots of germs and pesticides, which you REALLY don’t want on your dried product!
-Peel them however you wish, I find it easier to peel the entire orange in a giant coil shape, and then cut that coil to whatever sized pieces that I want my end result to be. Keep in mind that bigger pieces will be easier to strain out of whatever you use these in, so shaving them extremely tiny isn’t very convenient.
-Set your oven to it’s lowest setting, preferably around 200°. Place an aluminum foil sheet over a cookie tray, and generously arrange your peels on the foil. You don’t have to wait until the oven is completely heated, just stick them in there.
-The key is to expose them to low heat for a long period of time, which I’ve estimated to be about an hour and a half. Turning up the heat higher in an attempt to make the process faster will result in a few scorched pieces instead of lightly browned and crisped. You’ll know they’re ready when you can pinch one in the middle and it won’t give at all. Don’t be afraid to stir them around a bit so they all can get even amounts of heat exposure.
-While you’re waiting for them to finish, you can cut open the peeled oranges, and either juice them or slice them for eating!
Voila, now you know what to do with those orange rinds that people often throw away! 😊
