Oranges

Cranberries and oranges go so well together. As you know I have been playing with cranberries for the past month. The cranberry sweet tea recipe used up all the dehydrated orange slices I had in the cupboard. I just dehydrated another two oranges that made about a dozen slices.

I carefully washed the oranges in a mixture of baking soda and water to remove any dirt, germs, wax and other nasty stuff on the outer skin. I am almost out of orange zest in my cupboard so 3 of them got zested.

My process for zesting oranges is very simple. I have a grater and I place the zested peel on parchment paper and set it out to dry overnight. Remember I live in the desert so drying things takes very little time.

I do think a zested orange looks almost indecent, but it was used for a good cause. I use the same process when I zest lemons.

Once the zest is dry I place them in a jar and use as needed in recipes. It is much nicer than anything you can buy at the store. After I zest the oranges I squeeze them for fresh orange juice.

The fresh juice I used in a jelly recipe - Dreamsicle Jelly. This is basically orange juice infused with vanilla beans. The jelly looks lovely - a pale orange with black flecks throughout. Excellent on toast or muffins (of course), but also as a topping for vanilla ice cream.

The oranges all went in delicious foods that we can enjoy over the next few months.