We´re very fortunate and blessed that every year around this time we´re gifted a box of various citrus fruits from my mother-in-law´s garden. They have a delicious taste and most importantly they´re 100% organic, a total luxury nowadays. In our efforts to be more sustainable we´ve decided to use all parts of the fruit before tossing them in the recycle bin.
Citrus peel contains several functional components and can be use in countless different things. I use it daily in my tea, the rest of the peel I let it dry out and later use it as incense. There´s nothing more cozy than a nice homemade scent.
If you´re into scented candles as much as I am, you may have a few containers with leftover wax. Instead of throwing them away I´ve decided to mix them all up and use the orange skins as candle containers, I think its a nice practical sustainable idea.
Sometimes we´re not aware on all the natural resources that surround us.
The process of making a homemade candle is very easy, just be willing to get your hands a bit dirty, let's go step by step.
You´ll need the following;
2 citrus fruits of your choice
Wax (left overs or new)
Wick (20cm or 8 in)
Scent of your choice (cloves, cinnamon stick, rosemary or sandalwood)
First cut the fruit in half, squeeze them and empty the inside, use a spoon to help you with this process, it´s ok if they break on the sides, each imperfection makes it more unique.
Save the juice and pulp, we´ll need it later. Once emptied, run them lightly through water to remove any excess, let them dry for about an hour.
Your 100% ecological containers are ready.
Now you only need to fill them with something special. Melt the leftover candle wax in a pot at low temperature.
(If you don´t have leftover wax you can also buy it, I recommend soy or any natural based wax).
Soon you´ll see that everything will turn into liquid, please be very careful since the wax will be very hot.
It´s time to put some scents into your wax, reduce heat to very low. For this step you have several options; you can put few orange peels or you can add one tablespoon of leftover pulp to the wax. You can also use cloves, cinnamon stick, rosemary, sandlewood or any scented herb, better if they´re dry, my advice is to use one or a maximum of two scents.
Turn off the stove and add the wick in the melted wax, leave it for 1 minute. Please note that the length of the wick depends on how many containers you have, for 4 candle containers you´ll only need (20cm / 8in) you can keep the unused wick for future candles.
In future posts I´ll share how to make a homemade wick.
After 2-3 minutes the wax will start cooling off and it´ll begin thickening a bit, it´s time to take out the scents from the wax.
Have your orange peel containers ready.
Before pouring the wax on your containers I suggest to protect the surface with a piece of newspaper.
Pour the wax into your containers and if you want you can decorate the candles reusing the same scents used before, or you can add dry flower petals, small pieces of fruit peel, get creative.
Let them sit for about 5 minutes or until you see the wax solidify.
You`ll noticed the wicked has hardened, cut it to the size of your containers. When you see the wax has almost solidified completely you can stick the wick in the middle, it should stand straight. Leave your candles sit in a safe place, after an hour or so your candles are ready.
At ÉTICO home we have a zero waste attitude, thus we try to share practical sustainable and up-cycling ideas, the most important thing is to create social awareness about our planet and have fun during the creative process.
There´s no better reward than putting your efforts into practice, it's time to light up your home.
(Note: Very important to always keep an eye on your lit candles)
Do you want one more tip?
With the leftover juice and pulp we can make a delicious cocktail.
Grind it all together and then strain it, this will give your juice a nice special texture, with the excess pulp we can make a delicious jam, I´ll share that recipe in a future post.
If you want your drink extra cold you can leave it the freezer, take it out right before it begins to freeze and then grind it.
Have ready cold cava, champagne, white wine or vodka. Pour the juice up to half a glass and the other half fill it with your favorite social drink.
Cheers!
See you on the next post, but in the meantime you can also follow us on
Instagram & Facebook
BE SUSTAINABLE, BE ÉTICO !
Increible las recetas gracias por compartir tus experiencias.estan muy buenas