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 Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:50 pm
My recent mini-obsession is making my own tea. Lucky for me I have been growing a few red raspberry plants for a while. I've dried a fair number of their leaves and they've make a nice base for a tea - it sort of tastes like a light black tea. I like it. What I'm looking to do now is add a few things to give it some more flavor. A tea I rather enjoy has dried orange peel in it so I've been curious about how to choose an orange, how to properly dry orange peel for tea, and anything else that's important.
So I figured I'd start here. Anyone ever dry orange peel for tea or eating before? Any wisdom to share?
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:10 pm
Well, I would say buy a few different types of oranges to try and then keep them separate, and try the peels to see which you like best.
One of the more important things with orange peels is, since the peel is where any pesticides would linger, you should try to get organic or else be very thorough when cleaning the peel.
The internet says to dry citrus peels, you remove the peel with a thin small knife, and then lay them down on a plate with the part that was on the outside facing the plate. Then you let them sit somewhere safe until they shrivel and are not moist (2-4 days, depends on temp and humidity)
It also says to store it in a dark place, like most spices should be kept. You can either crumble or blend it, or leave it in larger pieces so that the flavor is absorbed without little bits. I suggest you make the pieces a similar size to the tea you already like.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:42 pm
Ahh pesticides. I'm wondering how far down they absorb in the peel... but I will be careful of that, for sure!
Nice to know I can dry them like I dried my red raspberry leaf though. Something familiar is always nice.
Thank you~
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:45 pm
Raspberry Flavored Milk Ahh pesticides. I'm wondering how far down they absorb in the peel... but I will be careful of that, for sure!
Nice to know I can dry them like I dried my red raspberry leaf though. Something familiar is always nice.
Thank you~
I think the pith of the orange is bitter, so I don't use it in any cooking. All the essential oils are in the orange skin. cat_3nodding
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:54 pm
You may already do this, but if you are going to eat the orange the same day, you can use fresh zest in the tea. Lemon and orange zest, and whole cloves (because powdered gets through the mesh) are nice to add to tea.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:12 pm
Found a zesting video: http://www.ehow.com/video_4790427_make-orange-zest.html
As odd as it is, I never even thought to put fresh zest in my tea. I didn't even consider it. Silly me.
And considering how thin the peel is (I didn't fully realize it until I watched the above video) I'll be going with the top of the peel and avoiding the pith.
So it's just dry vs fresh zest really (though, does the name depend on the size of bit of the peel?).
Thank you all for posting~
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