BACKGROUND OF THE QUESTION
So a while back I was chatting with my friend from China, sharing things about our culture and countries.
While talking about the spices and herbs we put in our foods, she asked “Do you guys put Mandarin peels in your food or use it in medicine?”
I was taken aback by this statement. What use would an indelible part of fruit give us? So I told her we should discard it and don’t use it.
TCM AND MANDARIN PEEL
She explained to me that in China western medicines are still not as widely used and people rely on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
TCM is made from herb extracts; they use the herb, and animal extracts to make medicines.
She then started to explain to me how to use mandarin peel by explaining that they dry it and then store it for a very long time. The longer they store it the more useful it becomes.
I decided to look further for the uses of mandarin peel and how using it can be beneficial to our bodies. I was surprised by the number of medical benefits it holds.
MEDICAL BENEFITS
It is rich in flavonoids and essential oils which serve to benefit the body in many ways. I was also surprised with how useful it is for certain ailments and I could see why my friend told me about its use in TCM.
USES OF MANDARIN PEEL IN COOKING
A question rang up inside my mind on how to use mandarin peel? So I searched various websites and discovered a few methods. Starting with the basic step.
1. Drying & Dehydrating the Tangerine peels
For best use, the skins need to be dried well for 2-3 days under sunlight. However, I can also microwave and or dehydrate them as well.
2. Mandarin peels as a food ingredient in various foods
It can be used in soup, rice, quinoa, and tea by tossing the dried peel into the pot while cooking.
3. For Baking delicious savory goodies
For baking purposes, it needs to be crushed and powdered to be used for cake, biscuits, muffins, and icing. It can be used with other ingredients to make chocolate.
It can also be used with other herbs and spices to enhance the flavor of food, especially meat-based dishes.
A brilliant example of this would be its use with rosemary to cook lamb, poultry, or fish.
MANDARIN PEEL USES IN CLEANING AND OTHER PRODUCTS
Apart from being used in cooking and medicine, I surprisingly came across an article that explained that it can be used as a cleaning liquid too.
Holistic DIY Multi purpose Cleansing Liquid:
Just by putting orange peel with white vinegar for 2-4 weeks in a jar and voila! You have your multiple-purpose good-smelling cleaner.
Lastly, they can be used in a wide variety of ways, ranging from candles to skin-friendly lip balms, as well as moisturizers for dry skin and organic DIY pest repellent.
CONCLUSION
All these benefits and cost-saving recipes and uses, just from an orange peel that we carelessly discard. I guess the moral of this writing is to make foreign friends and talk to them so that you can learn or come to my blogs so that you get these invaluable types of information here.
