6 Tips on What You Can Do with Orange Peels

You absolutely should not throw away the peels of oranges!

Untreated orange peel zest refines cakes and baked goods – but the healthy fruits’ peels can do even more. We’ve put together five great tips for you. If you want to reuse the peels from your fruit, look for untreated and unsprayed oranges when buying.

As a fabric softener, rinse aid, or lime dissolver

Orange peels has various uses in the home. If you place the untreated peels in a small cloth bag and put in the wash, you won’t need any fabric softener and you will get glorious laundry that smells like oranges. The peels can replace rinse aids in the dishwasher when placed in the cutlery basket. They’re also suitable as lime dissolver: just rub the white side of the peel on the faucets.

Homemade all-purpose cleaner

Combine orange peels and normal kitchen vinegar in a large mason jar. After two to three weeks, the result is a cheap, organic, and highly effective household cleaner.

Orange peel tea

A fresh orange peel makes a fine, aromatic tea. Just pour hot water over the zested peel and let it steep. The peels can also be dried, just like orange zest, if you want to bake cookies in a couple of weeks.

Orange marmalade with peel

Finely grated peel also refines homemade marmalade, giving it a pleasant, slightly bitter note. Try it out some time when the summer marmalades finally run short.

Orange as an air freshener

You can use a citrus peel to neutralize lasting odors in plastic bowls with unpleasant food smells. Just rub and the plastic will smell better already! The same works in the oven. Briefly heated orange peel eradicates burned smells.

Pleasant room scent

A super-simple version of aromatherapy: Put a couple of orange peels on your working heater. A bit more expensive, but worth it: make your own scented oil with a whole orange, plus peel, and some spices.