The Important Reason You Should Keep Orange Peels Outside Your Door Right Now

Before you throw those orange peels away, you may want to reconsider.

It's funny that I ran across this helpful info right after I finished eating my first orange in over a year. I'm not sure why exactly. Well, if I'm being perfectly honest it's probably because I have had an unfortunate tendency to buy a bag of oranges only to throw it away in a couple of weeks. The reason was, that the contents inside had started to turn a gray-orange and fester.

But even when I do eat an orange that turned out to be sweet and not at all mealy and bitter like some have been in the past, throwing away the thick, citrusy-smelling peels just seemed a waste.

After all, I've heard since I was a kid that there were various uses for orange peels around our houses and Tyler, Texas-area gardens.

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House Digest shared an article that gives some of the advice I'd heard from family and friends for years. For example, did you know 'You can use orange peels to make candied orange or create fragrant essential oil?'

I wish I could say I wish I could say I was the type of person who makes candied orange, but I'm not--at least not yet. Given how many of us find citrusy oils beautifully intoxicating, I have always thought it would be neat to make essential oils. Maybe I'll try that.

I'd also heard that we can scatter orange peels in our plants to keep pests away, but I'd never heard about this.

According to research done by 'Bioresource Technology confirm that extracts from the peels of the Citrus sinensis (sweet orange) species of orange and the Citrus aurantifolia (lime) species were effective repellents against mosquitoes and other insects, including cockroaches and houseflies.'

To be clear, they used orange oil in their study. But according to Orkin, orange peels may also be used. If you don't mind seeing orange peels scattered about your porch areas, it may be worth a shot as we get closer to summer.