TIP OF THE DAY: 10 More Uses For Orange Juice

May 4, 2013 at 8:26 am · Filed under Beverages, Food Holidays, Recipes

Drinking is just the beginning of uses for
orange juice. Photo by Sting | Wikimedia.

May 4th is National Orange Juice Day. Many Americans start the day with a glass of OJ but don’t touch the carton again until the following morning. Yet orange juice is a delicious ingredient that you can work into recipes for every meal of the day for a refreshing hint of orange flavor.

Breakfast

Pancakes & Waffles. Replace 1/2 cup of water in the batter with OJ.

French Toast. Soak 4 slices of bread in a mix of 4 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 tablespoon grated orange zest and a dash of cinnamon. Grill in a greased pan.

Lunch

Vinaigrette For Salad. Use this recipe for green salad (with or without chicken, salmon or other protein), cole slaw or grain salad (rice, quinoa, etc.). Whisk together 2 teaspoons of Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar vinegar, 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice, 1 tablespoon grated orange rind, 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots and and a few dashes of salt. Let stand 5 minutes. Whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Dinner

Grilled Chicken. Baste the chicken with OJ, or make juice can chicken in the style of beer can chicken. Fill a clean, empty soda can with OJ and insert into the chicken (follow the link for further instructions).

Marinade. Add orange juice to a basic marinade (olive oil, herbs, salt, pepper, garlic) for meat or poultry: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup cider or wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 diced small onion, 3 minced garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon salt.

Desserts

Cake Mix. Substitute orange juice for the water in angel cake, pound cake, white cake or yellow cake. We also add it to frostings.

Other Baking. Substitute for lemon juice in from-scratch cookies, cakes and frostings.

Snacks

Popsicles. Freeze into popsicles, straight or mixed with vanilla yogurt for a “Creamsicle” effect.

Beverage

Orange Juice Ice Cubes. Freeze OJ in ice cube trays and use to both cool and add flavor to pitchers of punch or iced tea. Or chill with an orange-based cocktail.

Orange Juice Cocktails. We love a Mimosa (with Champagne) or a Screwdriver (with vodka), but there are dozens and dozens of orange juice cocktail recipes.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE USES FOR ORANGE JUICE?

Add them to this list!

Add OJ to your vinaigrette. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

ORANGE JUICE HISTORY

Oranges are believed to have originated in Southeast Asia, a cross between the mandarin and the pomelo. They were cultivated in China as far back as 2500 B.C.E. In the late 15th century, Italian and Portuguese merchants returned home with orange trees. The fruit proliferated in the warm Mediterranean climate. Spanish explorers brought sweet orange trees to America in the mid-1500s. Its Spanish name, naranja, as an adaptation of the Sanskrit word, naranga.

The first orange trees were planted in the U.S. in the 1500s, in the area of St. Augustine, Florida, by Spanish explorers. The native Americans loved the fruit as well, so more trees were planted. The climate was perfect—warm, sub-tropical temperatures and abundant rains. The first commercial orange grove was planted in 1830 on Merritt Island, Florida, which remains a thriving growing area.

The oranges were eaten as well as juiced for drinking. In the centuries before shipping of perishable foods, orange juice was a local treat.

And it was a late addition to the breakfast table. In the mid 1910s, there was bumper crop of oranges in California and a lot of excess fruit. In the days before home refrigeration, juice would only last for a day.

Fortunately, at the same time pasteurization came into use and a national railway system was completed. So the growers were able to pasteurize the juice for longer shelf life and ship it nationwide.

Orange juice became available everywhere; additional technological developments allowed it to be stored and marketed year-round. Florida is one of the top 3 orange juice producers in the world, along with Brazil and Mexico; OJ is the official beverage of the state.

About 90% of the Florida orange crop is used to make orange juice. Valencia oranges are the best juicing oranges. Navel oranges (grown in California) are the most widely available eating orange.

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