Orange Lanterns and Candied Orange-Chili Walnuts

In the beginning of October, I came across this photo circulating the Organic boards on Facebook and in Pintrest.

Here you can see the end product looks beautiful. I thought these would be perfect centerpieces for my November International Dinner on France.

But how do you get from step 1 to 3? What to do with all of the juice and pulp? I juiced my oranges using a glass juicer and then scraped the insides out smoothly, dumping the pith and pulp into a glass measuring cup.

I squeezed the extra juice from the mass using the back of a spoon. I used an aluminum pipe about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and used the sharp end to cut two holes, one in each half, so the it would sit flat on the plate and so the heat of the candle would not burn the fruit's skin.

With future lanterns I'll make the top hole larger as they started to scorch after an hour, as the skin dried out.

Here is the aftermath. A delectable three course supper completely decimated. Notice the missing caps, but people didn't mind and rather enjoyed the brighter light.


The juice ended up being used to make the slightly spicy candied orange-chili walnuts.



The recipe: 2 oranges worth of juice, 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tbls olive oil, 2 tsp red pepper flakes, 8 oz halved walnuts.

Set out a well oiled cookie sheet.

On high heat, cook the nuts in the mix until the liquid thickens and bubbles and darkens, using a lightly oiled silicon scraper to stir the nuts frequently. Scrape everything evenly onto the cookie sheet, keeping the nuts separated. Once cooled, use a metal spatula to remove the nuts and hard candied caramel. It will have the consistency of peanut brittle. You can store it in a zippered storage bag.

Concentrated Orange Peel Cleaner

These are Wegman's Organic Navel Oranges.

4 oranges' worth of peels.
              No extra pith beyond what's stuck to the inside of the peel.
1 cup of white and 1 cup of raw apple cider vinegars.
1 large quart size glass canning jar.

 Peel the oranges and remove any extra pith off of the peel that might have separated from the fruit.

Add to a quart size glass jar. Fill with vinegar and cap the jar. Let sit for three to four weeks in a cool and darkened space, like a cupboard. Then strain out the peels (they will be slightly gelatinous) using a Norpro jelly strainer or cheese cloth layered under the cap with the lid removed. Rinse out the original jar. Add the strained liquid back to the jar and re-cap.

Fill a tall spray bottle half way with room temperature water. Using a funnel, pour in the concentrated mix to fill the spray bottle up to two inches from the top. Shake to combine. Store this solution in a cool cupboard.