Orange zest  - This is the peel of a citrus fruit, which has a bright orange color and a rich aroma. It is mainly used to give desserts or pastries an original flavor, as well as for the preparation of alcoholic beverages and meat.

Orange as an independent culture appeared in China two thousand years BC, after which the plant was brought to Europe. For the cultivation of oranges, special buildings were built, which were called greenhouses, and best of all, the trees produced fruit only in tropical and subtropical climates. These fruits have always been eaten, and their skin was first thought to be used in France.

The orange zest has small openings that contain essential oil, which provides the fruit with its characteristic aroma. The zest's taste is bittersweet, sometimes even cloying.

At the moment, you can easily find ready-made dried orange zest in the store.  However, it will be much more pleasant and more useful to cook it yourself. To do this, you will need to buy fresh fragrant oranges, as well as take advantage of our recommendations, which you will find in this article.

How to make at home?

Making homemade orange zest with your own efforts is very simple. Stock up on the required amount of oranges, wash citrus fruits thoroughly in running water, and dry with a clean cloth.

You can remove the zest with a special object for peeling vegetables, and if it is not at hand, then you can use an ordinary grater or knife. When preparing a flavoring seasoning, consider the fact that the white layer under the peel has a very bitter aftertaste. It is important that it does not remain on the zest, as the dish in which you add it will be bitter.

Carefully removing the zest, chop it with a knife if necessary. Then it must be properly dried. This is done as follows:

• To grind the peel, take a wide tray and cover it with parchment paper.
• Lay the orange zest on a tray with a thin layer, evenly distributing it over the entire surface.
• Leave the tray in a dry, well-ventilated area. Subject to all the drying rules, the zest will be ready after two to three days.

If, before preparing the zest, you selected a ripe and high-quality orange, then after the peel dries, its color will remain as bright and the aroma will become even more saturated than fresh.   If you accidentally cut off the zest with a white layer, it may become brownish..

Cooking use

Orange zest is used in cooking as a flavoring additive to pastries or desserts. It is also added to meat or fish, aromatic alcoholic beverages are made on its basis, as well as jams and jams.

A combination of orange peel and pastries such as muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, muffins, cakes, rolls and puddings will be very successful. But this is far from the limit, as liqueurs, tinctures, as well as beer and moonshine are made on its basis. Ready-made drinks with citrus zest will have a pleasant orange aroma and a delicate aftertaste.

The zest of orange is added to casseroles and biscuits, and they also make a filling for cakes from it, adding the crushed product to the cream.

If you like tea or coffee, the orange zest added to these drinks will give them a delicious aroma and also enhance their tonic properties.

Another dessert that can be prepared on the basis of dried citrus peel is jam or jam. At the same time, you can also use the zest of lemon or grapefruit, creating a citrus mix that will only improve the taste of the treat. At the same time, do not forget that the taste of such a delicacy directly depends on how correctly you cut the peel, since the white layer under the zest can spoil the taste of jam.

With the help of orange zest you can cook not only sweet treats. So, the supplement is often added to meat.   Especially delicious is baked chicken in the oven, which is sprinkled with the zest of an orange, and sometimes even a lemon.  But you can not add the workpiece directly to the meat, but make a sauce based on it that emphasizes the taste of the meat and gives it a citrus flavor.

Finally, the use of zest is not limited only to cooking! Often, enterprising hostesses prepare aromatic soap from it, as well as scrubs for the body and face. The essential oils contained in the peel of the orange help strengthen the skin, tone it and improve blood circulation.

The Harm and Benefits of Orange Zest

Benefit, like harm, can bring any product that is used by humans. The beneficial properties of orange peel are due to its high content of essential oils, as well as a large number of vitamins and minerals. It is useful not only to use inside, but also to make all kinds of masks and scrubs for skin, hair and nails. Here is an incomplete list of the main beneficial properties of orange peel:

• Hesperidin contained in the peel absorbs lipids that are contained in the blood, due to which there is an accelerated burning of fats and their removal from the body. At the same time, the fact that the pulp of an orange contains much less of this substance than its peel is interesting, therefore, by including citrus zest in your diet, you can easily control excess weight.
• Orange zest also contains pectin. Thanks to him, you can avoid many problems with the gastrointestinal tract.
• The dried peel of the orange, added to the dishes, also helps maintain the necessary level of sugar in the blood.
• The high content of vitamin C in the zest helps prevent arthritis and arthrosis, and also supplies the body with calcium, which increases bone strength.
• Orange zest contains a large amount of antioxidants, which can prevent the onset and development of cancer cells.
• The product has a choleretic effect, therefore, it helps to relieve the liver of excess load and cleanse the body.

This is not a complete list of the beneficial properties of orange peel. It can be crushed to a powder state to add to the dishes as seasoning, or you can simply cut into small pieces to prepare various infusions and jams.

There is an excellent recipe for preparing a healthy infusion that will help cleanse the body, restore strength and tone the body.  To prepare it, you need to boil a glass of water, add two teaspoons of chopped zest into it and leave it to boil for ten minutes. After this, remove the broth from the heat, cover and let it brew for at least five minutes. When it cools down a bit, you can take it inside before eating.

Orange zest is not only an aromatic additive for your baking and desserts, but also an amazing remedy that will help prevent and cure some diseases. But this product can also cause harm. This happens if a person is allergic to citrus fruits, or if zest is abused. It is also not recommended to use it for people who are prone to frequent intestinal disorders or who have an ulcer or gastritis.

Thus, using the orange zest correctly, you can feel its positive effect on yourself, as well as make your dishes more tasty and aromatic.

Probably many, when asked about which fruit is their favorite, answer that it is an orange. However, nothing surprising. It is really beautiful, sunny, tasty, and also a very healthy fruit. The orange peel is endowed with numerous medicinal properties, therefore the peel of this fruit is widely used in folk medicine.

Back in school, at the lessons of botany, we were taught that citrus fruits, which include orange, contain vitamin C, so much needed by our body. But this is far from all. Oranges are also rich in beta-carotene, folic acid, flavonoids and other elements. Regular consumption of this fruit halves the likelihood of developing cancer, in particular those that affect the stomach and throat. Scientists have also proved that oranges and their beneficial properties interfere with heart ailments, including even a heart attack.

The list of useful properties of orange peel

What is so useful fruit peel, which in our time, fortunately, can be found on the shelf of any store? What is so healing in this top layer of orange peel? We will talk about this a little lower.

To begin with, orange peels are bitter in taste, sugary and have a rough surface. The latter property arose due to the content of essential oils. By the way, they are excellent fighters against diseases of the oral cavity.

To properly prepare the orange peel, we need a sharp special knife, peeler or grater. The removed layer should be as thin as possible. The white shell beneath it does not bear much benefit; there is no sense in using it as such. But the zest contains the main supply of ascorbic acid and hard fibers, which improve our digestion.

The juicier the orange zest, the better. In this state, it is especially useful for the human body, because it contains phosphorus and calcium.

1. Orange peels are rich in citric and pectic acids, as well as phytoncides, which are essentially the same antibiotics, but of absolutely natural origin. Phytoncides kill pathogens, so they were used by our ancestors to heal wounds, ulcers and other injuries.
2. Some researchers claim that orange peels also act as a treatment for atherosclerosis. They are able to remove excess cholesterol from the body and cleanse blood vessels. In addition, this fruit even improves mood and increases vigor, so it is advised to add it to all kinds of dishes, including salads, all kinds of sauces, teas, pastries and even soups.
3. All metabolic processes in the human body will proceed better thanks to the use of orange zest. If you suffer from heartburn, then it will save you from this so unpleasant ailment, as well as from nausea.
4. Orange peel powder is widely used to treat asthma and the common cold cough. It helps dissolve the mucus that has formed in the airways. For patients with ARVI, it will be useful to simply inhale the aroma of orange peel. To do this, they simply scatter it around the room in which the patient is located. In this case, the crust will not only have a positive effect on human health, but also eliminate unpleasant odors in the room.
5. It has long been known about the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties of essential oils, which are so rich in orange peel. Also, this component of the fruit can optimize the processes in the intestine and normalize the acidity of the gastric juice.
6. Eat orange peels if your liver needs to be unloaded.
7. In addition, the essential oils in the orange peel will strengthen your immune system, relieve the nervous system and relieve insomnia, stress and panic attacks.
8. Inveterate lovers of oranges do not suffer from violations of the water-salt balance and edema. This fruit and its peel in particular cleanse the body of toxins and toxins.
9. Beauticians are actively using orange peel to make masks and scrubs. The funds received give the skin of the face, neck a fresh look and fight against fine wrinkles. You can easily make a mask from an orange peel at home. To do this, it just needs to be combined with fat cream. It is possible to apply the resulting substance not only to the face, but also to the decollete zone. Also, orange peels are useful for women during menstrual pains. You need to take them in the form of infusions.

As you can see, the list is very impressive. So think carefully before throwing another orange peel into the bin.

Can an orange peel be harmful?

Orange peel in diets

Due to its chemical composition, orange peel acts as an excellent activator of metabolism in the body, and, accordingly, helps to reduce weight. To this end, the zest is simply brewed in a glass of boiling water and insisted for ten to fifteen minutes, and then drunk. The recommended dosage is two glasses per day (one on an empty stomach, the other in the afternoon). If you don’t like the taste of such a tincture, you can add a teaspoon of honey to it.

This product, by the way, also activates the breakdown of fats, especially on the waist and hips. The resulting drink will not only save you from extra pounds and eventually make the figure perfect, but also recharge with energy and vigor for the whole day.

Video: the benefits of orange peel

What do you do with the peel that remains after peeling oranges?

Hope to dry. If not, start doing it immediately. The benefits of orange peels are not less, and maybe even more than, from oranges.

No other cleansing is known for such a wide range of applications in cosmetology and cooking, although in relation to the skin of these bright, beautiful sunny fruits, the word “cleansing” sounds very rude and ungrateful.

What are the benefits of orange peels? Of course - with its favorable effect on our body as a whole and on the skin in the above privacy.

They contain useful substances and phytonutrients - vitamin C. (100 gr. its peels are 2 times more than 100 grams of orange pulp!), calcium, dietary fiber  (pectins) and many other useful elements.

All this is necessary for our body, and throwing such good into the trash is wasteful and uneconomical.

If I convinced you and you decided to actively use the orange peel, you should remember two main points of its preparation:

1.Sellers of oranges for better storage can use all kinds of chemicals. Therefore, it is very important to wash oranges thoroughly with soap or soda before eating.

2. To keep the orange peels well stored, make sure they are well dried. Otherwise, they will either bloom or begin to rot. It is best dried in a warm, dry place, and dried in an oven or electric dryer.

What can be made from orange peels? I offer the simplest and most useful ways to use them.

• 
  Dried peels of oranges are perfect for kindling a fireplace in the country.  They contain a lot ofthe amount of combustible oily substance (this substance is called limonene, and it is part of many essential oils), from which fire flares up perfectly. In addition, when lighting a fireplace, a pleasant citrus aroma fills the living room!


• 
  Limonene is also a very effective natural pesticide.  (pesticides are substances that are used to control pests). Mashed potatoes made from orange peel and water can serve as an excellent barrier for ants if you put it on their “paths”. This smell also repels flies and mosquitoes. If you have plenty of orange peels, you can even take the finely sliced \u200b\u200bzest with you for a picnic to spread out around the blanket you are placing on your breasts. Mosquitoes and flies will try to stay away from this place.


• 
  If your kitten digs around in pots with your favorite indoor plants or seedlings, nibbles their leaves,  you can again put the orange zest on the windowsill. Cats do not like this smell and will bypass your "kindergarten" side.


• 
  And without hints, it’s clear that orange peels haveexcellent deodorizing effect.  Candied orange can be placed, for example, under the sink in the kitchen, where a bucket of garbage usually stands, and the unpleasant odor will be neutralized. Or, dried crusts can be placed in a gauze bag and hung in a cupboard, where the outer winter clothes are stored in the summer - the smell of musty will go away.


• 
  Indulge your skin with orange peels! Sounds wild? Just throw the washed crusts into the water when you are going to take a bath. Vitamin C enters the body through the skin, so the presence of orange peels in the water is a very simple and convenient way to strengthen the immune system. And what a flavor! Mmmm! You can also make banana masks during your orange bath. Thus, a cosmetic effect for the skin of the face will be added to the general tonic effect.


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  Orange peel face scrub.  Such a scrub will deeply cleanse the skin, remove excess fat, improve complexion, lighten age spots, and reduce signs of skin aging.Cooking:  Grind dry crusts on a coffee grinder (finely, but not in dust), mix with yogurt or sour cream (if the skin is dry). The consistency should be pasty.Apply gently to the skin along massage lines, in circular motions. In order to achieve a brightening effect and even out the complexion leave for 10-15 minutes, then rinse with warm and cool water.


• 
  Orange body scrub gel.Ingredients: baby soap 1/3 piece, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of water, 2 tbsp. tablespoons ground dried peels of orange, sea salt 1 tbsp. spoon, glycerin 1 tbsp. a spoon.Cooking:  rub the soap on a fine grater and melt in a water bath, mix with water, add crusts. Remove from the bath, add the remaining ingredients and mix everything thoroughly.Apply to the steamed body in circular massage movements. Wash off with warm water.

• 
  Dried crusts can also be used asdecor,eg,   a gift.Just cut out some figures with a knife from the peel you just removed, then dry them (whether in the oven, on a battery) and string it on a string or pin it with a stapler to the gift box. Here is one of the options - evaluate how impressive it looks!

That's how much benefit you can get from a seemingly unfit product! This is another case of savings with health benefits and at no cost whatsoever.

Useful Tips

Every time you peel oranges, you most often throw out a very valuable product - an orange peel. Right under the skin is a large amount of fruit acid and vitamin C.

The peel we throw away most often contains more phytonutrients and flavonoids than pulp.

Here's how to use it for health benefits and in everyday life.

Orange Peel Properties

1. Orange peel improves skin tone

Orange peel copes with skin imperfections and dark spots. The high content of vitamin C maintains skin elasticity, prevents dullness and gives a healthy glow. It acts as a natural sunscreen.

Application:

· Mix 2 teaspoons of orange peel and unsweetened yogurt with 1 teaspoon of honey to make a paste.

· Apply the paste on the face and neck, gently rubbing it in a circular motion.

Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse with warm water.

· Use this mask 2-3 times a week.

2. Struggles with signs of aging

Orange peels contain many antioxidants that fight free radicals that cause wrinkles and sagging skin.

Application:

· Mix 1 tablespoon of ground orange peel and oat powder with honey to make a paste.

· Apply paste on face and neck.

Leave for about 30 minutes and rinse with cold water.

Apply once a week for best results.

3. Whitens teeth

Orange peel can remove yellowness on the teeth, as it contains the d-limonene compound, which fights stains on the teeth.

Application:

· Rub the white part of the orange peel into your teeth 2-3 times a week, and then rinse. Do this twice a day until they become whiter.

Vitamins in Orange Peel

4. Promotes weight loss

Vitamin C helps to lose weight. Orange peels contain a large amount of this vitamin. For weight loss, replace tea or coffee with tea with orange peel.

Application:

· Dry the peel of the orange in a cool, dry place.

· Place 1 tablespoon of dry peel in 1 cup of hot water.

· Cover and let brew for 10 minutes.

· Remove the peel and add honey.

· Drink 2 cups of this tea per day.

5. Lowers bad cholesterol

Orange peel reduces the amount of low density lipoproteins in the body, which increase the risk of heart disease and heart attack. Pectin in an orange peel helps lower bad cholesterol and lowers blood pressure.

All you need is to drink orange peel tea twice a day.

Is the peel of an orange useful

6. Regulates bowel function

Orange peel improves digestion. High fiber content helps regulate intestinal motility and prevents constipation. It is also a good remedy for various digestive disorders, including indigestion, gas, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating and heartburn. In addition, pectin in the peel promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestine.

After eating, drink a cup of tea from orange peel.

7. Natural flavoring

Oranges have a pleasant smell that can be used to flavor a home.

Application:

· Put a handful of fresh orange peel, lemon juice and a few cinnamon sticks in a container with 2 cups of water and boil for 10 minutes. Strain and allow the mixture to cool, and transfer to a spray bottle. Use as directed.