As the saying goes: one or two Chenpi one or two gold, a hundred years of Chenpi is better than gold. Enough to see the medicinal value of Chenpi. Chenpi, which is made from citrus peels sun-dried, is the citrus peels that have been naturally aged for many years. I remember when I was a child, after eating oranges, my grandmother would collect the orange peels, and then put them in a ventilated place to dry slowly, so that they could be sold when someone came to the village to collect the orange peels. Nowadays, these orange peels seem to be garbage. In fact, the usefulness of orange peel is not small. Not only can they be used as medicine, but they can also be used to make tea and drink, as well as cooking or making snacks.

How is orange peel made?

The first step: the choice of orange peel. If it is only used as a condiment to the dishes, ordinary oranges can be. If you want to use in medicine, it is best to choose Xinhui mandarin. Also pay attention to the choice of ripe citrus Oh.

The second step: peeling. First, soak the oranges in lightly salted water for 10 minutes and clean them. Then, peel them one by one. When peeling, first use a knife to scratch the surface of the mandarin orange three times, and then peel the skin off completely.

Step 3: Three steams and three suns. Put the peeled orange peel under the sun to dry, it must be dry and sunny. Then, steam the sun-dried orange peels in water for about 15 minutes, take them out and put them in the sun until they are dry. And then repeat the steaming, sunshine. This can be repeated three times.

Step 4: Seal and store for natural aging. After the orange peels are completely dried, store them in an airtight jar so that the orange peels will slowly turn into aged peels. Take the peel out every six months and sun it again to prevent mold and insects. The peel should basically be aged for three years, and the longer the peel is aged, the more flavorful it is and the more medicinal value it has.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Chenpi

One, can all orange peels be made into Chenpi? Chenpi, as the name suggests, is citrus peel that has been placed for a longer period of time. But not all citrus peel can make a good peel, and different origins, varieties of orange, make the peel efficacy and price are very different. Common tangerines include iced tangerines, emperor tangerines, granulated tangerines and mandarin oranges, etc. They are not good materials for making aged peel.

If you want to make a better peel, you may want to use the ripe peel of the four varieties of Chaji Citrus, Dahongpao, Wenzhou Honey and Kuanfu Tangerine, especially the Chaji Citrus from Xinhui, Guangdong is the best.

Two, how to choose the peel?

1, look at the color. The inner surface of Chenpi of short years is snow-white and yellowish-white. The outer surface is bright red, dark red. The inner surface of the high year Chenpi is red or brownish red, and the outer surface is brown or black.

2, smell odor. If it is stored for 3~8 years, it smells clean and has a fruity and sour flavor. 9~20 years old peel citrus flavor is basically eliminated, and the citrus flavor is getting stronger. The aged peels of more than 20 years smell pure, sweet and mellow. The top layer of peel is accompanied by camphor flavor, the longer the year, the stronger the camphor flavor.

3, taste taste. The taste of shorter years of peel is bitter, sour and astringent, while the taste of higher years of peel is sweet, fragrant, mellow and old.