Amazing discovery: Use citrus fruit for more than cleaning

  • By James and Morris Carey / The Carey Brothers
  • Wednesday, March 15, 2006 9:00pm
  • Life

Recently we wrote about how to use citrus fruit (orange, grapefruit and lemon) for various cleaning tasks around the home. It was a fun article that was a compilation of tips we had discovered or conceived ourselves over the past 20 years.

Soon after the article was published, we received a really nice letter from the California Citrus Growers Association complimenting us on the article and asking us if we knew that citrus fruit was also very healthy. The growers were worried that readers would think that it was our opinion that lemons, oranges and grapefruits were only good as cleaners.

We absolutely agree that citrus fruit also is amazingly healthy and good tasting as both food and drink. By the way, we also think citrus fruit colors are great for decorating a table as well. Now, there, we said it. Citrus is healthy, pretty, and, to top it all off, it is great for cleaning.

So, as a gesture of good faith and for citrus ranchers and farmers all over this great land we will break from our regular home improvement routine and share a couple of our favorite citrus recipes with you that aren’t used for cleaning, but instead for eating.

Finger sandwiches for kids:

You will need:

* A few slices of bread.

* Some cream cheese (plain is OK).

* Some brown sugar.

* An orange or two.

* A round cookie cutter (about the same diameter as a slice of the oranges that you have).

First, use a knife to cut off the top and bottom of the orange. Then, cleanly slice the rind off of the orange. Don’t leave any of that white stuff. It’s bitter! Then use the knife to cut several nice, round, thick slices. Oh, and don’t throw the peelings away. We will suggest how you will be able to use them later. Set the round slices aside.

Next, use the circle cookie cutter to create bread rounds that are approximately the same diameter as the orange slices and set them aside.

With the cream cheese at room temperature (that makes it easier to spread) and with the brown sugar at hand, it is time to create the finished product. Begin by spreading some cream cheese on a bread round. Next, sprinkle a bit of the brown sugar on the cream cheese and cover it with an orange slice. Use another sprinkle of the brown sugar (or use your favorite sugar) over the orange slice.

Finally, spread some more cream cheese on another bread round and then use it to cap off your sandwich – cream cheese down, of course. You have now created the cutest and easiest and most colorful sandwich ever made for a kid or young-at-heart adult.

Healthy, fun, tasty and easy to make. Who said the Carey Brothers were limited to faucet fixing?

Homemade citrus powder:

You will need:

* Six or seven pieces of your favorite citrus fruit.

* Sugar.

* Salt (we like sea salt).

* A coffee grinder.

* A couple of large, flat metal baking trays.

First, thinly slice the citrus – potato chip thin if you can. You can use a knife, an electric slicer or a hand slicer. Lay the slices out on the baking trays and salt one side. Turn them over and sugar the other side. Then, place them in the oven at 100 degrees overnight.

The next morning you will have several trays of dried, salted and sugared, citrus chips. Use a coffee grinder to pulverize the chips into a fine seasoning powder that you can use on fish, poultry, fowl, desserts and anything else you can think of.

Remember the leftover orange peels we talked about earlier? Use them to clean your disposer (throw them in and turn it on) or heat them up on a hot plate to give your home the most fragrant aroma ever. And don’t forget, the peelings can be frozen until you need them again.

And, that’s all there is to it.

For more home improvement tips and information from James and Morris Carey, visit their Web site at www.onthehouse.com or call 800-737-2474 Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Careys are also on KRKO (1380-AM) from 6 to 8 a.m. every Saturday.

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