When you eat an orange, what do you do with the peel? Some people put them in the compost pile or use them to make potpourri. Other people toss them out. It’s probably not an appealing idea to eat the whole peel, but that doesn’t mean you have to waste it.
Orange peels are flavorful, aromatic, and loaded with nutrients. Fruit peels and rinds are excellent additions to tea. Steeping your orange peels with other ingredients in warm water will make a tasty tea that provides benefits to your health and wellness. Start saving up your peels.
What Is Orange Peel Tea?
Orange peel tea is a broad term for any kind of tea that includes orange peel in its ingredients. It doesn’t need to be as plain or basic as steeping orange peels in water. Many people incorporate orange peels with other teas, dried herbs, or fruit peels to make their own proprietary blend. You can even make your own orange peel chai.
Adding orange peels to tea is common practice. If you’ve ever purchased tea sachets at the grocery store or even gourmet bagged loose tea from a specialty tea house, almost all teas that list orange as a flavor note will contain the peel.
If the big players in the tea game are already doing it, there’s no reason why you can’t be doing it at home.
What are Some Orange Peel Tea Benefits?
The first benefit of orange peel tea is that you can customize it to your taste and enjoy it. That’s reason enough to prepare a fresh warm cup of homemade tea. Aside from the obvious, orange peels boast some nutritional benefits that may give a slight boost to your wellness.
Orange Peel Tea Can Support Normal Immune Health
The fruit inside an orange peel is very high in vitamin C, but so is the peel itself. A single tablespoon of shredded orange peel contains almost three times more vitamin C than a tablespoon of the fruit.
A tablespoon is about how much you would use to make orange peel tea. If you’re not a fan of eating fruit for its vitamin and nutrient content, try drinking it instead.
Vitamin C is crucial to many important processes throughout your body. It’s also the vitamin most commonly touted for its immune health benefits. Vitamin C works to support the immune system on a cellular level. It’s crucial for the production and health of cells that your body creates to ward off invaders and keep you healthy.
While you won’t meet your daily vitamin C needs simply by drinking a cup or two of orange peel tea, this tea is an easy way to incorporate more vitamin C into your diet.
Orange Peel Tea Can Support Healthy Skin
The vitamin C in orange peel tea also works to promote healthy skin. Vitamin C plays a critical role in wound healing, and a lot of the things our skin endures can cause minor wounds. Acne and ingrown hairs cause damage to the skin that needs to heal. Even the act of shaving creates micro-wounds on the surface of your skin.
Vitamin C helps your body form and sustain the collagen it needs to heal your skin and support healthy skin elasticity, tone, and texture. This process is ongoing.
If you were to experience a vitamin C deficit for a prolonged period of time (a condition called scurvy), old scars or wounds can open up. This goes to show just how vital vitamin C is for your skin health.
If you’re looking to support your skin’s quest to heal from the damage it regularly endures, incorporating more vitamin C into your diet is an easy way to support your skin health.
Orange Peel Tea Contains Valuable Plant Compounds
Orange peels are rich in polyphenols, which are compounds that occur in plants that may contribute to your overall well-being. Polyphenols act as antioxidants, which protect your cells from damage.
When you digest food, inhale air that contains pollutants, or some contact with environmental pollutants, unstable particles come into contact with your body. These particles are missing an electron, and they’re looking to steal one from another source.
In a desperate bid to come back together, they’ll steal an electron from one of your healthy cells. This causes premature cell death, or oxidative stress.
Antioxidants step up to the plate to help you. They’re willing to sacrifice their own electrons, rather than allow the electrons from your healthy cells to be stolen. Antioxidants protect you and preserve your overall health.
Orange peel tea will give you an antioxidant boost. Try combining antioxidant-rich foods with antioxidant-rich skincare for protection and benefits inside and out.
Orange Peel Tea Is a Better Substitute for Sugary Beverages
If you make your orange peel tea with a natural sweetener like stevia or monk fruit, you’ll get all the flavors and nutrients of the fruit you include without added sugar. If you’re looking to kick soda, energy drinks, or other sugary drinks, orange peel tea might help to keep you on track.
Sure, orange peel tea isn’t exactly the same as a citrus-flavored soda. There’s no denying that. It may not be soda’s identical twin, but it may help scratch the itch without setting you further away from your wellness goals.
The Aroma May Boost Your Mood
Oranges are rich in aromatic compounds called terpenes, giving them their distinct fragrance and flavor. Many people find the terpenes in oranges energizing and uplifting, and perhaps that’s why orange juice often finds a spot at the breakfast table.
If the smell of oranges has an aromatherapeutic effect on you, sipping some orange peel tea might be a gentle and effective way to uplift your mood.
How To Make Orange Peel Tea
You can make orange peel tea however you’d like to make orange peel tea. You’re the one who has to drink it and enjoy it, so it’s important to customize the tea to your taste. Here’s a great framework to use when putting together a cup of orange peel tea.
- One tablespoon grated orange peels or orange zest
- Two tablespoons of your favorite tea (black, white, green, or red)
- One tablespoon of other fruit peels or fruit tops (like apple peels or strawberry tops)
- A pinch of any seasonings you enjoy (like cinnamon or cloves)
- Sweetener of choice (like honey or stevia)
Combine your ingredients in your tea infuser and steep in hot water for about two minutes. Enjoy it hot or cold.
Combining orange peels, strawberry tops, and lemon zest with green tea will make a refreshing antioxidant-packed tea perfect for a hot summer day. Combining orange peels with black tea, cloves, and cinnamon will make the perfect hot tea to sip by the fireplace in autumn. It’s all about dialing the vibe in. Experiment with different flavors.
How We Use Orange Peels
We’re huge advocates for using up leftover orange peels. We’ve created a proprietary process to turn the flavorful terpenes in orange peels into bioidentical hemp-free CBD.
If you’re looking for more ways to incorporate leftover orange peels into your wellness ritual, relax with Peels.
Sources:
Vitamin C and Immune Function | National Institutes of Health
