My nose, situated prominently at the peak of my topography as I linger in bed, is the first body part to wake up. With eyelids rolled down like city storefronts, I sniff for signs of breakfast. As for the rest of me; late for school as usual.

Don’t you love the smell of breakfast when someone else is cooking it?

I am the camper who waits in his sleeping bag while my companions gather around the table brewing coffee and sizzling bacon. I time my emergence from the tent to coincide with the cracking of eggs. My friends love me anyway, and I help with the dishes.

I still remember morning scents from childhood, of my father passing down the hall, trailed by a steamy cloud of Dial soap and Old Spice aftershave. While he put on his suit and tie, the aroma of coffee and toast wafted up the stairs from the kitchen. Perfectly synchronized with him in this routine, my mother prepared the table; orange juice on the left, black coffee on the right, two slices of toast, and half-a-grapefruit—the sections loosened with a knife. In a flash, he was out the door to catch the train, though his scent lingered, then as now.

Ma would come in shortly and gently wake me, “Time for school, Glenn Owen, time for school.” The breakfast table would be set again. I was fond of buttered toast with sugar and cinnamon; and always a glass of orange juice.

Now that I’m awake, let’s get on with this month’s topic:

Dehydrating Oranges

Dehydrating orange slices might be one of the first projects one undertakes when that new dehydrator arrives, but there are lots of other fun ways to dehydrate oranges. You know me… one thing leads to another. My kitchen smelled quite citrusy this month.

Thinking back to mom’s grapefruit-cutting expertise, I used the “grapefruit cut” to remove triangular sections from oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits; and then dried the pieces without the skins.

Another way to cut oranges for drying is to peel them and pull apart the crescent moon-shaped sections, and then slice the sections crosswise several times.

While cutting the oranges, I set aside any mangled pieces and the smallish end cuts. Those ended up in the blender and produced a tray of orange fruit leather.

The orange fruit leather was snappy enough to grind into orange powder, and voilà; we can now make orange juice for breakfast on the trail.

With the “grapefruit cut,” a little fruit and juice remain inside the hulls of the fruit. Not wanting to waste any citrus goodness, I juiced them.

That led to using the juice and the peels to make candied citrus peels.

You’ll find all the photos and instructions for these fun projects on my newest webpage:

Dehydrating Oranges

Sliced, Sectioned, Blended, Powdered & Candied

Now orange you glad we covered this topic? Hope you enjoy. See you next month.

Cheers,

Chef Glenn & Dominique

P.S. To contact me, please reply to this email or use this contact form.

• Recipes for Adventure II: The Best of Trail Bytes
• Recipes for Adventure
• Menu Planning & Food Drying Workbook
• Action Guide: Dehydrating 31 Meals
• 1001 Miles on the Appalachian Trail

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