The only large parcel of citrus I ordered this year were two big boxes of sour oranges from my mother's neighbor's tree. After juicing them all, I froze the juice for later use in the summer when porch-side cocktails are in order. I find that this method keeps the citrus flavor a little fresher, but I still stand by my sour mix! After making more candied citrus peels than should be normal, I still had a large amount of peels left over. Rather than compost them right away, I squished them into two half-gallon jars and covered them with white vinegar. They sat for a month, and just the other day I drained the bright gold liquid off into one of the jars. It was very concentrated, so I then filled the jar with more white vinegar. Now I have sour orange vinegar, which I certainly could use for some interesting pickles or dressings, but what I intended for them was household cleaner. There's a strange sort of pride in making a cleaner that you could cook with!
I usually fill a spray bottle halfway with vinegar, then add water and a drop or two with dishwashing soap. That's it. But now when I'm cleaning, it will smell slightly of Florida, which is just what you need in the tail-end of winter.
Do you use homemade cleaners in your home? What do you make/use?
I've soaked orange peels in vinegar and water, but I see I wasn't using enough! I'll do it again with your method. We use vinegar/water as a multipurpose spray cleaner. I guess that's the only one I make.
ReplyDeleteHi Margo! I've seen people use less, but I had so much I really had to pack it!!
DeleteI have to admit I only ever use just plain old vinegar and bicarb. No fancy scenting here! That said, if someone was handing me citrus willy-nilly I'd probably think about using it to scent the vinegar.
ReplyDeleteThose willy-nilly citrus givers will get you every time!
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