You've Been Peeling Oranges Wrong Your Whole Life

Let's face it, peeling an orange can be a difficult task. You can spend what seems like half your morning digging your fingernails into the rind trying to pull the skin off piece by piece. At times it seems easier to pour yourself a glass of orange juice and call it a day, but oranges and orange juice are not created equal, and if you're one of those piece-by-piece orange peelers, we have a secret for you. There is an easier way to peel your orange so you can have your juice and eat it, too. Because remember, it's always better to eat fruits whole so you don't lose out on essential nutrients.

To pull off this trick you need is a knife and cutting board, things you probably don't typically use in your orange-peeling endeavors. Simply place your orange on the cutting board and slice off both the top and the bottom, being careful not to cut into the flesh. The thinner the better. Then make a slit across the rind, perpendicular to the top and bottom you just cut off. You can be a little less gentle here. Cut right through the peel until your knife hits the orange's flesh. Then, here's where the magic begins. From where you cut your slit, flatten out the edges to gently reveal your orange slices, separated and ready to eat. All you've got to do is pluck them off the peel. Though this method is best recommended for use on smaller orange varieties like mandarin oranges and clementines, Tablespoon also successfully tested it on a Valencia orange.

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You're probably shaking your head right now at all the mornings you've lost trying to peel an orange, but don't be too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. Like that time we learned we'd been peeling garlic all wrong, and that bananas are supposed to be peeled from the bottom up. It happens. In fact, there are plenty of other fruit peeling tricks you can try right now to get ahead of the game and save yourself tons of time and frustration.