Arts &Crafts, How-To's, Upcycling & Repurposing

What if I told you that you can make your own FRESH syrup using orange peels? I’m sure some people are already questioning this…

Most of us use syrup on a lot of things. Such as pancakes & French toast. There’s also syrups that go into coffee drinks and baked goods. My son likes a little bit in his coffee in the morning.

When sugar is combined with orange peels, it begins to draw moisture out of the peels. This process is called osmosis. It occurs because sugar has a higher concentration than the oils and moisture within the peels. As the sugar absorbs moisture, it also dissolves and interacts with the oils that are present in the peel, effectively pulling them out and creating a syrupy mixture.

This recipe is called ‘Oleo-saccharum’.

Today I’m going to show you a really easy way to make orange syrup.

Supplies needed:

* Orange peels

* Peeler or a knife

* Sugar

* Jar with lid or a container with lid.

* Paper towels

* Cutting board

* Teaspoon

Step 1:

Start by peeling your orange. When you peel the orange you will want to get as much of the white part (known as the ‘pith’ ) off of the inside of the peel as you can. By eliminating the white part/pith, you are helping the oils of the orange peels go through better and quicker.

Step 2:

Once you are done peeling and removing the excess white part/pith, you can do this 1 of 2 ways –

1: Put the sugar into a bowl and rub the orange peel in the sugar coating both sides of the peel.

OR

2: Place the orange peels in the jar, sprinkle a couple teaspoonful of sugar over the peels in the jar. Replace lid and give it a good shake.

Step 3: (Optional)

If you’d like, once the peels are coated in the sugar, you can sprinkle a little more sugar over them to quicken the process.

Step 4:

Replace lid and leave the peels in the jar for approximately 24 hours.

You will start to see the syrup after a couple of hours. However, the longer it sits the more syrup you will get.

~ Ideas ~

• You can also create syrup using lemons, limes, grapefruit, clementine, tangerine, tangelo, papeda. Any citrus fruit.
• Can be used in baked goods, pancakes, French toast, lemonade, coffee.
• A great project for kids!!

Till next time,

~ Mel