In addition to the great taste of an orange and all the nutritional value it has to offer, you can do a lot with the actual orange peels as well.  Instead of tossing them in to the trash, check out these 10 Uses for Orange Peels.

10 Uses for Orange Peels - TM2S

Aromatic Candles

If you’ve got a few oranges lying around; when you’re peeling them, try to pull the stem out along with some of the shell (cutting the orange’s shell in half and pulling the stem out on one side works best with this. Once you got this all worked out, fill this bowl-like orange peel with some form of oil, making sure to get that stem well soaked in it. Light the oily stem as if it were a wick and you’ll have a nice, orange-scented candle keeping your home smelling great. If you have trouble keeping the stem lit, you can tie a piece of twine around the base of the stem and wrap it around the stem to help wick the oil up to burn.

Insect Repellent

Yes, you can use the orange peels to keep the pests away.  Simply rub them on your skin or even lay the peels around you. In addition to them smelling really good, those peels will keep a variety of insects away; such as snails and mosquitos.

Citrus-Scented Bath Powder

If you let some orange peels sit on a counter and dry out, you can grind them down to a powder which you can use for an orange smelling bath.

Wood Polish

Use your fresh and moist peels to polish your wood.  The oils inside the peels of oranges act as a fine polish for your wood. Just give whatever piece of wood you’re working with a tough scrub with the peel and, in no time, you’ll have a great, deep new shine. For outside the kitchen, you can use this to give beat-up, dusty, wooden sofa legs a store-like finish as well.

Brown Sugar Preserver

Just keep some orange peels mixed in with it all in the bag, and the peels will absorb most of the moisture that gets in, keeping your sugar from solidifying and turning into that all too familiar bag of brown rocks.

Deodorizer


Of course, considering their usually powerful citrus scent, it wouldn’t be very shocking to see “deodorizer” on this list. Just set a few out and let them sit for a while, if your using them just to make an “okay smelling” room smell good. However, if you want to deal with bad odors, you’ll have to be a little more strategic by putting them at the bottom of trash cans, down the trash disposal to deal with old, moldy food smells coming from there; and you’ll want to make a sort of dish from a peel and fill it with salt or baking soda if you want to de-stench your fridge.

Make-Shift Sponge

If you have a relatively fresh orange peel, one that’s still relatively moist, you can make a nice, quick sponge of it. Just use the inside of your fresh peel to thoroughly scrub whatever surface it is you are cleaning up. It’s safe for use on many surfaces; metal, wood, counter tops, floors, etc.  As an added bonus, your fresh peel will leave a nice, citrus scent on the surfaces.

Fertilizer

If you’ve always wanted to start your own garden, but the soil at your home just doesn’t seem to be the greatest, nutrient-rich filled, you can always just add some oranges. Once you finish your healthy treat, you can compost those peels and make that dead-grass-covered patch of land into a fertile tract of soil.

Kindling

If you’re ever short on twigs, branches, or any other kind of small kindling that you need to start a family bonfire in the back yard, orange peels can help you out here as well. Just toss them into your fire and they’ll burn rather easily, especially if they’re fresher, as the oils in them will allow them to burn easier. Just remember to start fires responsibly.

Natural Medicine

Many ancient pharmacists had concluded that oranges were an amazing natural medicine for many years, whether they were bitter or ripe. More importantly, orange peels have also been proven to decrease blood pressure through direct consumption.

Anymore Uses for Orange Peels you can think of?  I’d love to add it to the list.