How to Make Orange Flavored Oil

It is relatively easy to make orange flavored oil, considering that the only basic ingredients you'll need are fresh orange peels and "grain alcohol' ... and a little practice on your part to master the art. Orange peel contains essential citrus oils--d-Limonene in particular. Orange flavored oil has multiple uses, such as soil detoxification, pest control and gardening, air-freshening, food flavoring, cleaning and more. So, if you really wish to make orange flavored oil, hang on to those peels the next time you buy oranges.

Things You'll Need

• Orange peels
• Grinder
• Grain alcohol
• Mason jar
• Coffee filter
• Shallow dish
• Storage jar

Instructions

1. Dry a small bunch of fresh orange peels for a couple of days. Drying the orange peels indoors is safer than keeping them in direct sunlight outdoors. This will avoid drying up of the essential citrus oils present in the orange peels.

2. Grind the dried orange peels in a kitchen grinder.

3. Put the ground peels into a mason jar. A mason jar is a glass jar with an airtight screw top.

4. Pour in a quantity of grain alcohol sufficient enough to cover the ground orange peels. Grain alcohol is one of the purest forms of alcohol, and is also referred to as either ethanol or ethyl alcohol. It is derived from the distillation and fermentation of grain.

5. Shake the ground orange peels and grain alcohol mixture vigorously. Do this periodically (a few minutes each time) throughout the day. For better results, it is advisable to repeat this process for at least two days.

6. Strain the orange peel and grain alcohol mixture into a shallow dish using a good coffee filter. Then cover the dish containing the strained mixture. This will result in the evaporation of the alcohol present in the mixture. The final derivative will be pure, orange flavored oil.

7. Pour the strained, orange flavored oil into an airtight, glass storage jar and store for later use.

Tips & Warnings

• The use of slightly warmed grain alcohol will deliver a higher volume of orange flavored oil.

• If used as an ingredient for particular recipes, make sure to first experiment with a very small quantity, and proceed from there.

• If using as a cleaning agent, mix a liter (1 qt.) of water with a 1/4 oz. of orange flavored oil for best results.

• Spot-testing the orange flavored oil is advisable before application in large volume to any surface.

• Do not work without safety gloves, as grain alcohol is a powerful solvent and can harm your skin.

• Do not keep grain alcohol or the finished orange flavored oil near a naked flame, or within reach of small children, as both are highly corrosive and flammable.

• Do not attempt to ingest grain alcohol, as it is extremely potent and therefore highly toxic and harmful to health.

References

• Orange Peel Tips
• Orange Oil