Orange oleate

Today we want to teach you how to make an orange flavored oil. Oleate (or macerate) is an oil containing the soluble parts of macerated plants. These oils have been used since ancient times, both for medicinal remedies and for beauty products and cooking. The preparation is very simple and the ingredients are easy to find.

The oleate that we are going to elaborate can be used for:

• Body oil or massage oil, make-up remover oil.
• To make soap or other cosmetics
• For different cooking recipes: salad dressings, biscuits, cookies, vegetable and fish creams, etc.

Orange oleate

Ingredients:

• We use extra virgin olive oil but other oils such as sweet almond oil can also be used, depending on the desired use and properties. It is also possible to use a mixture of different oils.
• Orange peels. You can also use medicinal plants such as rosemary, chamomile, lavender, etc., depending on the use and the desired properties. There are many, many possibilities.

Preparation:

For a good conservation of the oleate it is very important that the peels or plants used are completely dry. The bottle used to preserve the oleate must be sterilized and dry, you can wash it with soap and then rinse it with very hot water.

It is important to use oranges without further treatment, like ours, and to wash them well before peeling them. As mentioned above, the skin of the oranges must be completely dry. The peels can be dried in the oven or simply on the radiator. Especially if you want to use the macerate for cooking, it is recommended to remove the white part of the peels because it has a bitter taste.

Next, place the orange peels in the glass jar and add the olive oil. Now the jar is covered with a kitchen towel to keep out the light. Store it in a cool, dark place for two weeks. Every day the jar should be stirred once or twice gently. Then filter the oil. We use a normal strainer but if herbs are used, a clean linen cloth or a coffee filter is also useful to remove the smallest particles.

For extra concentration, you can repeat the process and, after filtering the oil, add new plants to macerate.

If you do not want to wait 2 weeks to obtain the oleate, there is also the possibility of accelerating the extraction process by heating the oil in a bain-marie for about two hours.

The oleates can be kept between six months and one year (depending on the ingredients used), we recommend a dark bottle, well closed and always in a dry, cool and dark place. Do not forget to put the name of the macerate and the date on the bottle!

Some suggestions

• Orange and vanilla oleate is extraordinary, also with cinnamon or rosemary is highly recommended , try it, you will love it!
• If you use the orange oleato to dress salads or for vegetable creams, you can also add some bell pepper seeds and a dried chili.

At this article we will show you how to make soap with orange macerate.

We also recommend this article on how to make essential oil (or tincture) of orange with alcohol, another technique to extract the essences of plants.

If you want to order Valencian oranges online at home, visit our web page citrusricus.com. To learn more about this world as well as to know all the news and interesting recipes, become a fan on our Facebook or subscribe to our blog.

All photos from citrusricus.com