Sweet Orange Peel

I have a recipe that calls for 1 oz. of bitter orange peel and 2 oz.'s of sweet orange peel. My lhbs only had bitter so I picked up the oz I needed and he suggested I use fresh orange peel, but couldn't tell me how much or which type of orange to use?

Any thoughts, tips, or suggestions would be much appreciated!! I am brewing a blue moon type beer (american wit)

Cheers,
Ben

I personally like to use fresh fruit when ever possible since dried fruit (and fruit peels) tend to loose a lot of their potency so I typically use grapefruit zest as a substitute when I can not find seville oranges (bitter oranges) but I digress.

for the sweet orange, I typically use the zest of 1 large ripe navel orange. you can weigh it out to 2 oz.'s if you must but be sure to stop zesting the orange as soon as you see the white of the pith.

I would probably just use an equal amount of fresh zest (2oz) as what the recipe calls for in the dry sweet peel. You will probably get a bolder orange flavor since the fresh zest will impart more flavor than the dried out peel so you could even scale back some if you want to 1.5oz or so...

Most grocery stores that have McCormick spices have ground sweet (Valencia) orange peel. I picked this up a few months back when I was following the Blue Moon clone recipe here and wanted to be specific. It turned out mighty tasty and I'm probably going to use it in my next batch that calls for sweet peel as well.

The big benefit I see with the dried products is their shelf life.

Awesome info here thanks!!! From further research I may try the fresh stuff, anyone have a favorite orange they like to use?

bmock79 said:

Awesome info here thanks!!! From further research I may try the fresh stuff, anyone have a favorite orange they like to use?

Click to expand...

Most orange peels are going to taste the same. It's the inner parts that impart the differentiating flavors from one orange to the next.

chefglb said:

Most orange peels are going to taste the same. It's the inner parts that impart the differentiating flavors from one orange to the next.

Click to expand...

I guess I will go to the store and find a couple of the best looking oranges and zest them up!

Penzey's spices. You can find them online and maybe even locally.

I do one gallon and I zest 4 total...probably overboard but I put it in two additions and LOVE the taste of it!

Calichusetts said:

I do one gallon and I zest 4 total...probably overboard but I put it in two additions and LOVE the taste of it!

Click to expand...

Thats good to hear, my brew buddy swears that the fresh zest is going to make my beer so bitter we won't be able to drink it. He watches some brewing tv guy on YouTube, I believe that's where he is getting that info!

I think I'm going to zest up 2 or 3 oranges and see what happens!!!

Thanks fellas.

bmock79 said:

Thats good to hear, my brew buddy swears that the fresh zest is going to make my beer so bitter we won't be able to drink it. He watches some brewing tv guy on YouTube, I believe that's where he is getting that info!

I think I'm going to zest up 2 or 3 oranges and see what happens!!!

Thanks fellas.

Click to expand...

Its the pith that will make it bitter not the zest. Just be sure to stop before you get into it.

mcwilcr said:

Its the pith that will make it bitter not the zest. Just be sure to stop before you get into it.

Click to expand...

+1 to this.... Go buy a lemon zester. They are only a couple of bucks and are designed to only shave off the zest. Otherwise as you are shaving/grating off the colored part of the peel, stop just short of getting to the white spongy part.

I've actually used chopped orange peel (fresh) with the pith and have not seen much in an increase in bitterness...same with grapefruit. But everyone's palette is different

Oh yeah, and a microplane zester for the win, use what the pros use:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004S7V8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Good luck...and experiement with different types of oranges too...I am trying tangelos, tangerines, and naval oranges tonight

bmock79 said:

anyone have a favorite orange they like to use?

Click to expand...

I just made a wit using clementine zest two weeks ago. The hydro sample I took the other day tasted great, perfect amount of flavor with the zest of five clementines. Keep in mind, though, that clementines are much smaller than regular oranges or even tangerines. I also used a microplane grater, which really only pulls off the very top layer of zest. At least here in the Northeast, the supermarkets are filled with clementines right now.

Skipper74 said:

At least here in the Northeast, the supermarkets are filled with clementines right now.

Click to expand...

Citrus is in season! Instead of having to pick through yesterday at the store, I could basically grab at random and get a ripe, unbruised orange.

I used fresh orange peel in my recent brew, it was awesome! I used 4 oranges for a 5 gallon batch. However I made a mistake of accidentally including the white parts or the pith - It had this metallic bitterness but still delicious and drinkable.