The Scent of Oranges

The other day I bought some small oranges not sure of the variety but boy are they lovely.  Sweet to taste, they smell absolutely beautiful and me, being me, I have decided to save the peel and dry it for use in the kitchen, in firelighters, Pot- Pourri, in wine, beef stew etc.  Some of the peel will be left in pieces other bits will be blitzed into a powder and used in baking, probably some in my mincemeat as well.  It is just sacrilege to waste it.

When prepping the skin for drying, all I do is work with how the orange has peeled and sometimes break into pieces and then take as much as I can of the pith off with a paring knife. The pith is the bitter part of the skin and you do not need it, it is bitter and the texture is a bit yuk!

I have been doing this for years rather than waste any of the peel at all.

However little oranges also mean something else for me; the scent, the aroma.  As a child I was quite poorly with my tonsils and adenoids. We were in the fortunate position that our local GP Was not only our Doctor, he was also a Surgeon and carried on a dual role at our nearest hospital which was at Oakham, Rutland (a Cottage Hospital). I had constant colds and sore throats would just recover from one bout and then off I would go again. They were septic and they would not take them out until I had reached the age of 7 (we have a family history of this my Dad, then me and then my brother).  In the end I was the eldest in the ward for surgery (the youngest was 4).  I was the first to go down to show the others that everything was okay and the last to come around.  I was really poorly with it as I did not do well with the anaesthesia.

Whilst I was at home recuperating (it would be around this time of year), the local shop owner found out I had been in hospital and he sent me a little get well present.  He had sent me a little tiny wooden chest with some Clementines in, six in all.  It is funny how things stick in your mind and I still remember that little gift to this day.  The juice from the oranges was fresh and helped soothe my sore throat as well as giving me a burst of vitamin C. So lovely.  I sometimes wish I had that little chest.  I am not sure what happened to it.  Was a little light weight wood like Balsa wood, similar to the box that the Turkish Delight used to come in although that was Hexagonal and is a completely different story.

In any event, at the time of writing this, I am enjoying a couple of Oranges.  They are going down very nicely and are very refreshing, the sweetest ones have had in a long time.  Now need to speak to the Veg shop to find out what variety they are and to see if they have any more available.

I hope everyone is keeping safe and warm.  It has been wet here, and the wind has got up a bit to what it was, but nowhere near as rough as others have had it.  Keep safe.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x

P.S. I am slowly getting there with the kitchen.  Still not done but quite a bit has been accomplished.  Just taking far longer than I would have liked.  Catch up probably next Monday night.

PP