Simple Cooking: Orange Tea Sweetener

By Caitlin Klein in Food on Apr 18, 2012 7:00PM

Winter is wrapping up and spring is well on its way, which means that citrus season is coming to a close. If you have a big ol' bag of oranges still sitting around, here is a way to use them (peels and all) to make your own orange sweetener. This part-bitter part-sweet syrupy sweetener is perfect for hot tea or spread onto a piece of toast. The natural pectin in the fruit will thicken the sweetener and make it jelly-like when cooled.

Ingredients
5-6 oranges - reserve peels
Water
1 cup sugar

Instructions
Squeeze or juice all of the oranges. Reserve juice in a bowl, and keep all peels. Place orange peels in a pot and fill with water just until peels are covered. Heat, on high, until water is boiling, then continue to boil until the liquid is reduced by half (this took us about 30 minutes).

Turn down heat to a simmer, remove peels, and discard. Add the squeezed orange juice and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Continue to stir and simmer until mixture thickens into a thin syrup.

Allow the syrup to cool, then pour into jars. Can be saved in the fridge for several weeks.
When it’s tea time, spoon a bit of sweetener from the jar (it will have a jelly-like consistency.) Stir into your tea for a hint of sweet orange.