Orange Peel (Granules)

PURPOSE

WHAT IS IT?

These orange peel granules are grated, dried, and then minced. Their aroma is like nutty orange blossoms. Fresh orange zest has its place, but if you need something to have a deeper POW of orange, than this is your ingredient, from meat rubs to sweet cream desserts.

EXPERIENCE

When dried and granulated orange peel’s aroma is followed by a tropical, huskier, tart-sweet flavor. It’s a unique flavor that only dry-cured oranges can offer.

CULINARY GEOGRAPHY

Orange trees are grown for their sweet fruit in native tropical, and sub-tropical climates, and in deserts. In 2014, 70.9 million tons of oranges were grown worldwide.  Brazil produced 24% of the world total.  China and India followed. The peel is used in cuisines all over the world.

TRADITIONAL USES

• Tagine chicken;
• Candies and cake decorations;
• Meat rubs;
• Gravies
• Curries
• Stews.

A FEW IMPROVISATIONAL RIFFS:

• The orange contrast to tart-sweet cranberries in my Orange You Glad holiday bread;
• Kicks up my Holy Cran! cranberry sauce;
• Contrast in my Gran Marnmarmalade Ice Cream;
• Adds depth to my Outrageous Orange Chicken.

THE BACKSTORY

Oranges are a hybrid fruit, a pairing  of pomelo (Citrus maxima) and mandarin oranges (Citrus reticulata). The first reference to the fruit is in Chinese literature in 314 BC.  The name “orange,” is an Anglicized take on orenge, the French term in the 1300s, which itself was adapted from the Arabic word, nāranj, which is a riff on the Persian nārang, which borrows from the Sanskrit nāranga. Their origins are muddy, but somewhere in China is a leading contender, as the fruits combined both are native there. Orange trees are the most cultivated fruit tree in the world. Oranges mutate naturally, as the trees are infertile, and need to be grafted to produce fruit. The Portuguese navel orange (Umbigo), is probably closest to the fruit that most of us consume.

Get top quality from our friends at SpiceJungle.