How to Make Dried Tangerine Peel
How do you make dried tangerine peel (chén pí)? Dried tangerine peel is a key aromatic ingredient in many Chinese dishes like tangerine beef or orange beef.
Servings: 5 tangerine peels
Ingredients
- 5 tangerines mandarin oranges, or clementines
- Sunshine
Instructions
- Lightly score the surface of the tangerine peel from the top of the fruit to about two thirds of the way down to the bottom. Make sure you don’t cut the fruit on the inside, or the juice will moisten the peels, which you don’t want. Basically, scoring makes peeling the tangerine easier. But depending upon the fruit you have, it may not even be necessary.
- Start peeling from the top of the fruit from where the stem once protruded and peel the tangerine skin back in wedges like you would peel a banana. Once you get to the bottom, pull the entire tangerine skin away from the fruit. Set aside the fruit and enjoy it later.
- Next, use a serrated knife to carefully scrape away most of the white pith on the inside of the peel. This will prevent your dried tangerine peels from being too bitter.
- Place the scraped tangerine peels on a sheet pan and leave it in the sun to dry. A sunny window sill is fine, but a sunny spot outside is better, as long as it’s not too humid. Turn the peels once a day for 5 days, until completely dry. The time it takes may vary depending upon climate and weather. The dried peels must be be hard and crispy, or they may spoil. Store the dried peels in an airtight container––we like to use canning jars for this purpose.