Rent a living Christmas tree in California

You can go to a site or go online, order the tree and pick it up or if if possible have it delivered. A live tree doesn’t shed needles after a few weeks and it’s obviously the ecological choice to cutting down millions of 7 to 15 year old trees every year.

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Winter is citrus season, and the markets are full of golden oranges. Don’t even try to resist them. What could be more heavenly than the sweetness of a good orange? As juice, in salads, cooked with chicken or fish, or eaten out of hand, oranges are delicious, and provide a good hit of vitamin C as well.

If you’re dedicated to zero waste in your kitchen, you might find yourself frustrated with all those squeezed-out oranges. What can you do with them? Compost them if you can, but if that’s not an option, here are five culinary ways to get the goodness in their peels. Naturally, pesticide-free fruit is what you want.

The first thing is to remove the rind by peeling or grating before doing anything else to the fruit. Much easier, and safer, than handling a slippery, squeezed half-orange.

1. Make orange and basil infused vinegar. The ingredients are one orange, a large handful of fresh, clean basil leaves, and apple cider vinegar. Have a clean, dry jar at hand. Peel the rind of one orange into strips, avoiding the white pith. A vegetable peeler works well for this. Stuff the orange strips into the jar. Add the basil to the jar and pour vinegar over all. Stir the contents carefully to release any air bubbles. Cap the jar, store it away in the dark, and wait two days. A week is even better.

You can strain the infused vinegar if you want, or just leave it all in. I like to leave the peel and basil in, letting the flavor improve over time.

2. Make candied peel. That’s a sugary seasonal treat. It makes great gifts, if you can keep it around long enough. The procedure is simple; it’s just a little tedious. You use the whole peel in candying, pith and all, which requires boiling the peel three times, in order to get rid of the bitterness. But it’s worth the time if you love candied peel. There are plenty of instructions out there. Lemons, limes, and grapefruit also make great candied peel.

3. Cook up orange rice pudding. Use our rice pudding recipe and simply stir in the grated peel of a whole orange instead of the rose petals.

4. Dry the peel for cooking, as the French and many Oriental cooks do. It adds an alluring deep flavor to stews. Peel one or two oranges thinly and set the peel to dry. Clementines are good too, and are easy to peel. Some draw thread through the peel and hang it up to dry. I just lay the pieces down on a thin towel and put it in an out-of-the way corner, turning it over every few days.

How soon it dries depends on the weather and the ambient moisture. The peel will be brittle when thoroughly dry. You can snap pieces off with your fingers. It will last years, stored in glass in a dark place. I love to tuck a few pieces of dried orange peel here and there in a beef or chicken tajine.

Most people don’t identify the flavor as orange unless they get a piece in their stew. It’s not tart and bright like fresh orange; it’s a little musky.

5. Make orange vodka. It couldn’t be simpler. Pour out about a half-cup of vodka from a new bottle and set it aside for some other use. Peel an orange. Cut the rind into thin strips (any size) and cram them into the bottle. All the peel should be covered with vodka. If needed, top up the liquid with the vodka you’d set aside. Let the vodka infuse for three weeks. To serve, strain the vodka and dilute it with simple syrup. Add fizzy soda water to lighten the drink, if you like.

Bonus recipe: simple syrup is 50% water and 50% white sugar, boiled together 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Cool and store in the fridge. It lasts forever.

Citrus peels can be frozen in any shape and have many uses. Store frozen grated orange or lemon peel in a small container. Add a tablespoon to the batter of quick bread, muffins, pancakes, or more elaborate yeast pastries. Or stir a little into tea.

At the moment I’m freezing all my squeezed-out lemon halves to accumulate enough for candying. Although I might thaw out one to tuck into the cavity of a roasting chicken.

Another delicious way to use orange peel is letting a piece steep in hot, sweetened red wine for 5 minutes. What could be cozier on a dark winter’s evening?

Photo of candied orange peel via Daring Gourmet.

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