I love how, in the Old West, the Native Americans demonstrated industry and thrift by using all the parts of the buffalo they hunted. Besides making jerky and pemmican from the meat, they also used the dung for fuel, the hides for clothing and shelter, and the bones to make tools. I like to think that in my own small way, okay, very small way, I’m following their example. I often buy oranges, but my family rarely just peels and eats an orange. I usually end up juicing them. We don’t like much pulp in our juice, so I always strain it out. But I felt bad at how much of the orange’s insides seemed to go to waste.
I hit on a simple idea that solves that problem. I slice the oranges in half and scoop all of their insides into a blender and blend them up. I strain out the juice to drink, then I freeze the remaining pulp. On another day, we will put the frozen pulp into the blender with milk and sugar to taste and make an orange julius. You can add a few ice cubes if you want to thicken it more. Pretty good if I do say so myself.
Of course, if you really want to go Native American, you can also use the peelings for the orange zest called for in many baked goods or chopped up in orange marmalade. I do like orange marmalade but don’t make enough of it to use all my orange peelings.
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