The Orange Peel Experiment

As I have mentioned, my kids will put down fruit like nobody’s business.  They may spend an hour and half on a ham sandwich, but will inhale fruit as fast as we let them.  It’s great for the compost pile, of course, but for the sake of science (and possibly save some money) we tried two experiments for re-purposing our orange peels.  

Orange Peel Cleaner

Process: For this, we just dropped all of our peels into a quart mason jar.  It was full in about two days, then we filled it right to the top with white vinegar.  The vinegar pulls the oils from peeling, boosting the inherent cleaning power of the vinegar.  After about 10 days, we poured the orange infused vinegar through a strainer and into an old spray bottle.

 

Verdict:

• It works great for light duty cleaning. 
• Smells great!
• I know EXACTLY what is in it. 
• Incredibly easy!

Orange Peel Seed Starter

Process: For this one, we used halved oranges leftover from hand juicing.  Little preparation was needed, but to poke a drainage hole with a pocket knife in the bottom of each half.  We filled them with potting mix, dropped three seeds in each and covered with more potting mix to achieve appropriate seed depth.  Our experimental seeds included Basil, Lemon Balm, and Stevia.  We kept them in a tray with a clear plastic lid to keep in heat and moisture.

Verdict:

• Seeds sprouted.  They were not fast, it was about eight days before any sign of life.
• Oranges molded.  At this point, we terminated the experiment.  If they could have survived outdoors, I would have transplanted (but if that were the case I would not be doing indoor seed experiments).  There was just too much fuzzy mystery mold for my wife to get a warm fuzzy.

Summary

I will definitely do the orange cleaning solution again and would recommend it to anyone who likes natural citrus scented cleaner.

For future seed-starts, I would forgo orange peels in lieu of other methods.  While this may work great for some, I consider our experiment to be a failure. 

I look forward to hearing about your experiences with these or other orange peel re-use ideas.  Thanks for reading.