We just got a big box of navel oranges at home- 30 pounds total. Also we got a 20 lb box of mandarin oranges. Probably a little too much for us to just eat them all before they go bad. What are some of the other food items that we can incorporate lots of oranges?
Orange juice is an obvious candidate. I am thinking about orange ice pop and orange jelly. Ideas welcomed!
I don’t have a juicer so making orange juice is actually a bit of a problem…
Not a bad problem to have!
Candied orange peels
Chocolate dipped peels
I just baked a citrus olive oil cake that was amazing
Sliced oranges for breakfast
Citrus chicken
Sorbet
Salad dressing and Marinade
Marmalade
…and smoothies
How many people in this household with 50 pounds of oranges?
Any friends who you could trade 10 pounds of oranges for something else?
Even if you borrowed a juicer, orange juice doesn’t keep.
We enjoy them several times a week, peeled and sliced as a starter or side dish
Orange/red onion + or - black olive salad.
Wonderful in a caramel or glaze on scallops but that only takes 1 fruit.
They should last a month at least if you have a cool airy place. We are gifted a huge quantity of Meyer lemons every Christmas. I open the cartons and put them on our back stoop and they last for months. When I start to worry, J r u n them through a very dilute Clorox bath and they carry on into early summer.
It’s not something I usually have in the house as I prefer blood oranges for drinking but those are very seasonal.
Liqueur (if you drink)
Cakes
In salads
Go well with poultry (Moroccan-style tagine, use the juice in stir-fries or braises etc)
An orange-flavoured cake with orange icing on it does use up quite a few oranges, and it’s pretty hard not to like. Somehow, lemon chiffon cake has taken the limelight (lemonlight?) among chiffon cakes, but an orange version is very good.
(I’m imagining a couple of people skulking around a big outdoor oven late at night, with 50 pounds of oranges, 12 dozen eggs or whatever that many oranges would take, and bags of flour and sugar… and a tube pan the size of a very small car…)
There’s an old Maida Heatter recipe for sliced oranges marinated in a raspberry honey sauce. Easy way to eat a lot of oranges!
The best tip listed in your links is that every part of the orange is freezable if you have an abundance. I also like the suggestion to share them if you have more than enough. Fresh citrus makes a nice gift or donation.
I’ve just spent this morning on my annual task of turning 1kg Seville oranges into marmalade.
Yes, the food banks and shelters appreciate fresh fruit.
Vanilla panna cotta with orange syrup, it uses 1L / 4 cups of juice (3-4 oranges). Juice cooked with whole coffee bean until reduction to syrup like.
Pierre Gagnaire’s orange tart : uses 2 oranges
Another vote for Moroccan salad with grated carrot, 3 oranges, with orange juice, cinnamon…
I can look for the above recipes in the books if you’re interested.
And then there is the classic French duck dish canard à l’orange.
I’ve once bought a crate of mandarin for 2 of us, lasted more than 1 month. Towards the end of 1 month, the fruit dried up slightly making peeling a bit difficult. If you have a fridge temperature cellar, it will be better.
The fastest way to use up the fruits is to make orange juice everyday.
If your fruits are organic, dry the mandarine peels under the sun or oven, precious as spice for Asian cooking.
Excellent idea, prima.
Orange Curd - would concentrate the juice for more flavor
Orange Flan
Orange Meringue Pie
2nd the idea for Orange Chiffon Cake as suggested by @DavidPF - very retro but delicious
Orange and tangerine mimosas
Use juice in marinades
Enjoy!
One more thing: Citrus Shine from Vivian Howard’s new book, This Will Make It Taste Good
Crispy Orange Beef or Chicken
Prawns or Chicken in Orange Tarragon Sauce
Orange sherbet.
I completely agree it’s retro, but I’m not sure what causes it to be that way. There are far older recipes that nobody would call retro, yet we all know this one is.
I guess the answer is probably “It became unpopular”.
My first thought was donate. 30 lbs of oranges could feed 60 kids in need of fresh fruit.
Marmalade and cakes are fine, but feeding hungry children is better.
I agree. Or donate a large chunk of it.
Lots of good ideas for here and there use, but if I was faced with 50 lbs. of oranges the donation route would appeal to me.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that squirrels love oranges. We don’t encourage squirrels in our yard because we are homeowners with an attic…
But if you have a few oranges left at the end that aren’t quite up to snuff and you don’t have an attic.,.well throw them out there.
