Too many oranges!

December 29, 2005 1:31 PM

My husband and I just received a gift box of Florida oranges. I know we'll never eat 30+ oranges before they go bad, so I'm looking for orange-intensive recipes. I've googled, but all I turn up are recipes that call for small quantities of orange juice or orange zest. I'd like to do something more interesting than just squeezing them for juice. Any suggestions?
posted by gokart4xmas to food & drink (24 comments total)

You can chop them up and boil them in Dr. Pepper... well, if you're into that sort of thing.
posted by muddylemon at 1:32 PM on December 29, 2005

Give them to young children to make clove-orange pomanders? Wow, this is a tough question- there really isn't a lot you can do with an orange besides juice it. You could make old-fashioned candied orange peels, though, in my opinion, candied orange peels, like horehound candy, exist only to let kids today know how good refined sugar is.
posted by headspace at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2005

When that happened to me I regifted them to neighbors.
posted by k8t at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2005

Peal 'em and dip the slices into melted chocolate. Let it harden in the fridge. Eat.

Great for bringing to a party.
posted by bondcliff at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2005

The Florida Department of Citrus has some recipes that use a little more than juice or zest. Still, at most you'll use one or two oranges at a time. Consider sharing with neighbors or practicing juggling.
posted by mikepop at 1:44 PM on December 29, 2005

You can freeze the freshly squeezed juice, too.
posted by luneray at 1:45 PM on December 29, 2005

Put a bunch of orange slices in a pitcher, top off with white wine, leave it in the fridge overnight, then you've got a pitcher full of citrus sangria.
posted by StarForce5 at 2:00 PM on December 29, 2005

make marmalade? I don't actually know how that would work, but it would certainly use up the oranges.
posted by MadamM at 2:00 PM on December 29, 2005

Here's a pretty good guide to making marmalade; make sure to read down to the bottom, because it tells you how to adjust the recipe for sweeter oranges.
posted by MadamM at 2:09 PM on December 29, 2005

heck just eat an orange each for breakfast every morning...that will only take 2.5 weeks and you're done! lot's of vitamin-C goodness, yum.
posted by jacobsee at 2:10 PM on December 29, 2005

There's a good reason the Orange Kiss-Me Cake won the pillsbury bake-off. It's fantastic. The bestest cake ever. Seriously. And it uses a whole orange.

It's a bit of a pain to make, because it involves putting the orange (chop it up a little first), walnuts and raisins in the food processor and grinding them into a paste, which you then put in the cake batter. But it's totally worth it.

If I were you, I would make 30 of these and put 29 in the freezer. However, if you choose not to do that and have an orange left over, you could also put some orange slices in a vinegar bottle to make some nice citrusy vinegar for salads.
posted by duck at 2:12 PM on December 29, 2005

Is there a homeless shelter near you, or anything similar, soup kitchen, Meals on Wheels, that sort of thing? I bet they'd be grateful, and it'd be a nice thing to do, to donate most of the oranges to them. They would most likely make fruit salad or hand them out along with the gruel (or whatever the modern equivalent is), and it'd be a real treat for some people.
posted by Gator at 2:20 PM on December 29, 2005

A juice and zest recipe, but fantastic: Chez Piggy's Salmon with Citrus Glaze. The glaze is fantastic.
posted by furtive at 2:37 PM on December 29, 2005

I like gator's idea, but here's an orange custard recipe that should take a few more of the buggers off your hands.
posted by youarenothere at 3:26 PM on December 29, 2005

orange chicken, steak with orange sauce, duck a l'orange--all meats are great in an orange bath/sauce, and most fish filets/steaks too.

you can also use it in regular cake/muffin/etc baking--cut the sugar and the water and use oj instead.

and you can freeze the leftover juice as ice cubes and keep them forever, for drinks or for flavored water.

(or send them to me--i can't find great oranges anywhere this year)
posted by amberglow at 3:38 PM on December 29, 2005

Gator's idea is easiest and nicest. : >
posted by amberglow at 3:38 PM on December 29, 2005

Oranges are a great addition to a regular (i.e. not fruit) salad. You more often find mandarin oranges used on salad, but I like regular oranges better for this. Peel them (get as much pith off as possible), segment them, cut each segment into 3 or 4 pieces, and apply liberally to your favorite leafy salad. Maybe with some nuts or sunflower seeds. Mmm... salad.
posted by staggernation at 3:54 PM on December 29, 2005

If they're organic, you could try making some orange liqueur. Check out the orange section in this list of recipes, or use a good limoncello recipe and substitute oranges. You can use regular citrus, but you're a lot more likely to wind up with something that tastes like furniture polish, since everything in the zest is going to be extracted into the vodka. I'd also suggest buying a microplane, which cuts the time spent zesting down to a reasonable amount.

If not--do you bake? Or know anyone who does? The candylike strips of sugared orange peel are great, but if you have a few weeks and feel up for an experiment, you could try glaceeing them, which would probably give you a few tubs of the gooey, translucent orange peel chunks you see in the grocery store around this time of year. That stuff will keep for a long time, and is really good in stuff like sfogliatelle.
posted by Vervain at 4:14 PM on December 29, 2005

You might like this Flickr set showing and telling how to make candied orange peel.
posted by jessamyn at 7:16 PM on December 29, 2005

Put the zest of one orange in a food processor with 2 to 3 cups of sugar. Grind it up. Result: orange sugar. Use in it...well, just about anything. Any basic cake or cookie recipe is now an orange cake or orange cookie recipe. Use it with duck, glazed ham, cranberry sauce, you name it.
posted by gimonca at 8:34 PM on December 29, 2005

Nigella's awesome Clementine Cake can be made with oranges...
posted by Saccade at 8:53 PM on December 29, 2005

If you have access to an ice cream maker, homemade orange ice cream is fabulous. You can substitute oranges for peaches in this recipe for peach ice cream. For extra orange flavor, shave some zest off the oranges before you peel them and add the zest to the ice cream.
posted by rhiannon at 10:12 PM on December 29, 2005

Iced Oranges

2 sweet oranges
2 tablespoons apricot fruit spread



1. Peel oranges and divide into sections.
2. Slice each section into two or three bite-size pieces (optional - you can leave them in sections if you'd like).
3. Toss with apricot spread and chill well (about 5-15 minutes on a tray in your freezer, depending on how cold it is).

You can make and freeze several of these on a tray; then remove to a plastic freezer storage bag. Just grab a handful for snacks or dessert.
posted by LadyBonita at 2:47 PM on December 30, 2005

Cranberry Orange Relish is delicious and uses the whole orange (fruit, pith and peel) ! Recipe is on the back of Ocean Spray Fresh Cranberry bags or here.

We serve it as a side salad like cole slaw or potato salad.
posted by AuntLisa at 4:01 PM on December 30, 2005