I love to make this apple peel tea with orange juice in the fall, when I bake with apples a lot and have many unused apple peels. Instead of wasting such a delicious ingredient, I make tea with it. This is a frugal and delicious way to make tea.
I don’t like to waste food or good ingredients, which is how I came up with this recipe. Every fall when the apple baking storm hits, I am left with apple peels, so many of them. I know you can just eat apple peels or not peel the apples at all. But sometimes you have to.
And so I came up with this orange apple peel tea, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s tea made with apples peels in place of dried tea leaves. With a few additions I include, it almost tastes like warm apple cider. It’s comforting, not too sweet and insanely drinkable.
I think on a cooking spectrum this tea made with apple peels falls somewhere in line with homemade stock that’s made with vegetable scraps. Or sourdough discard, another ingredient too precious to waste.
The best thing is you only need a handful of ingredients. Apple peels and cores are the obvious one. I also like to add orange juice for additional flavor. An alternative to that is lemon juice, because tea with citrus is always wonderful. Here it gives the apple peels some extra flavor.
And then I include a cinnamon stick and some honey at the end. How much sweetener you put it in is entirely up to you, but the cinnamon stick is a must.
More cozy drink recipes to explore
- Fresh ginger tea with chamomile (Zingy and warming, this is perfect for colder months.)
- Mulled white wine (A Slovenian classic that you need to make at least once.)
- Apple mulled wine (A twist on classic mulled wine that includes some apple juice, this is insanely delicious.)
- Peanut butter cup hot chocolate (A sweet treat for cold days.)
- Hot chocolate protein coffee (This is great for busy mornings.)
- Winter rum punch (A boozy but very drinkable cocktail.)
Recipe
Orange apple peel tea
Ingredients
- 6 apples only apple peels and cores
- 5 cups water
- 1 large orange juiced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 teaspoons honey or to taste
Instructions
- Place apple peels, cores, water, orange juice and a cinnamon stick in medium pot. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Lower the heat to medium and let tea simmer for about 15 minutes, until the water turns to a nice orange-yellow color (you’ll also notice the peels lose some of their color as they cook).
- Strain tea through a sieve and serve with honey (optional).
