Ever wondered how to make those pretty round and slivered orange slices you see on restaurant salads? There are two easy ways to make attractive orange slices – the round cut and the supreme cut (pronouced soo-prehm, not su-preem). I’ve provided a detailed photo tutorial for both cuts below. But first, a little orange history!
During the California Gold Rush, oranges in particular were in high demand, as they were known to be useful in fighting off scurvy, a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C. This helped give citrus a business boost, but it was the navel orange that truly put California citrus on the map. This large, seedless and easy to peel citrus fruit is a mutant of a variety originally found growing in Brazil. When suffragette Eliza Tibbets and her husband Luther moved to Riverside, California to escape the cold Northeast climate, she wrote the USDA asking for trees that would grow well in the California weather. USDA botanist and superintendent of horticulture William Saunders sent her the seedlings from the Brazilian tree that would later produce Washington Navel Oranges. Rumor has it that Eliza watered her trees with dishwater, but nevertheless they grew to become a very important piece of citrus history. One of Eliza’s trees can still be found growing in downtown Riverside. I wonder if Saunders knew at the time that his small gesture to Eliza would eventually become the foundation of a citrus empire?
We are certainly lucky this all happened, for it led to the popular seedless navel oranges we consume today! Here is a tutorial for slicing oranges beautifully. You can apply these principals to slicing pretty much any citrus fruit. Here’s how!
Recommended Products:
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
How to Slice Oranges and Citrus
Ingredients
- Citrus fruit (navel oranges, Cara Caras, blood oranges, grapefruit, etc)
- Sharp knife
Instructions
- Start by rinsing your fruit and patting dry.
- Remove the ends from the fruit and discard, be sure you are cutting away enough of the peel so that the flesh is now visible.
- Stand the fruit upright on one of the flat ends. Cut away a section of the peel from the top all the way down to your cutting board. Be sure that you are making a clean slice and removing all of the white pith.
- Use this first slice as a guide to remove the rest of the peel and pith. Make slices all the way around the fruit until all of the peel and pith are gone.
- Once the peel and pith have been removed, lay the orange on its side and cut it into slices, as thick or thin as you like.
- You can also cut your orange into sections, or supremes, by making slices on either side of the membrane that separates the orange sections.
- This will give you beautifully sliced, visually appealing oranges without the thick white membranes, perfect for adorning salads and desserts.
Nutrition
My Mom used to freeze the orange and lemon peels and add them to peas and various other dishes. The frozen lemon peel is especially good in a Lemon Sorbet Smoothie, yum yum.
Gayle S-
The peel that your mom added to the peas, did that include the white part on the skin? Thanks
My neighbor freezes the skins of oranges and lemons and when she needs essence of the orange she uses the frozen skin.
You must have been reading my mind. I was looking for a class or someone to teach me how to section citrus fruit. Much thanks.
I suppose people use citrus peels in Christmas pudding?
I use citrus in winter fruit salads frequently, but I wind up with membranes & sometimes some pith on my sections. This is an easy way to avoid that – but so much wasted fruit that I wind up sucking out the peels.
That said, I’m someone who actually likes the pith, but admittedly most of my guests do not! Thanks for the lesson!
Tori, This is so good for your Flu, How are you Feeling, Better I pray. God Bless your Health and Good Day to you.
Have you ever tried making a pomander by sticking cloves into an orange?
I remember my Grandfather doing this when I was a child – I never saw the benefits of it, it just sat there.
PRETTY!
Put a little powdered sugar and cinnamon on the sliced oranges and you have simple yet delicious dessert. A little trick I picked up in Morocco.
Oranges are usually sweet enough without sugar which would only mask their flavour, but that is a great idea for grapefuit…… and I wish I knew how to tone down the tartness of blueberries. I tend not to use sugar. I think people used to use something like meadowsweet to counteract the tartness of fruit without ruining its flavour?
Love this Tori! Also hope you are feeling better..saw you had the flu. Just wondering..did you get a flu shot?
Feeling much better today Natasha, thank you!
Thanks tori! Your tutorials remind me of culinary school!