What's That Smell?

This time of the year there are usually organizations selling oranges and grapefruits and we can end up having lots of citrus fruits in our house.  I have to laugh because I drank Tang as a child which was our orange juice.  I think it was easier for my mom to serve this to us and probably cheaper.  I definitely did not eat oranges when I was younger and actually never ate an orange until about three years ago.  I think I felt they were too much trouble to peel and I really did not know how to do it.  However, now that I have learned the easy way to peel an orange, I eat them all the time.





Last night I was feeling a little sick so this morning I decided to eat some oranges for vitamin C.  After peeling the oranges, I remembered a way to use the peels to make the house smell great.  So I wanted to share peeling oranges and this terrific tip on making your house smell great. Here are the items that you will need.

First, how do you peel an orange.  There are many ways but this is the easiest for me.  You just need to cut the ends off first and then use your knife to slice down towards the bottom center.  Check out the picture, hopefully you can tell how the slice goes down the orange.  Sort of in a quarter moon direction.

Once you have cut the peels off then you just need to add them to some water in a pan and then add a couple of cinnamon sticks and turn the burner on low heat.  You can leave this burning for hours and just add more water if needed.  Please remember to set a timer though so you do not leave the pan on the burner.  This helps me remember to turn it off.  Your house will smell wonderful and you have used the peels from your fruit.  

Also make sure you save the peels in a ziplock, either in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.  You can even use them to make orange zest.