I was eating an orange not long ago, as I do upon occasion, and as usual was left with the skin after consuming the fleshy innards. Not being near a waste receptacle, I figured that if the inner was edible, the outer would follow suit, and ate the remaining skin.
Now, is there any actual benefit here, or have I merely stumbled upon an unorthodox method of disposing of my garbage? More importantly, can anything bad happen to me this way?
Incidentally, I felt fine afterwards.
ewwwwwwwwwww You’re Gross 
I would worry about pesticide residue on the skins of non-organically grown oranges. That’s about all I can think of.
No cite, but I know there are recipes that call for orange peels.
The only thing I can think of right now is that yummy sugery icing that my mother pours over poundcake that has orange peel shavings in it.
Orange peels are used in a number of recipes.
My grandmother used to cook and keep them in a sugar syrup, making a sort of candied orange peels that I liked a lot.
That’s because it’ll make your food bitter.
I would expect a stomach ache if you ate too many, simply from the essential oils in the peel. But pesticides would be my main concern - the soft, porous skin of the orange can’t be cleaned as well as, say, an apple.
In short, small doses shouldn’t hurt you, but I wouldn’t eat a lot of them as a regular thing.
Good thing to know I didn’t inadvertedly poison myself then - but I’ll try not to make a habit of it.
My father makes a glass of orange juice by throwing a whole orange in a blender. It is usually pretty good with thin skinned oranges…i don’t like OJ sweet.
I’m going to try that. Sounds tasty.
Candied orange peel uses the whole depth of the rind, and is quite popular.
I enjoy eating orange peels, especially if they’re the thick ones with lots of the white fleshy matter on them - Thin peels tend to be too bitter for my taste.
I have been doing it for years.
I dont even peel my orange. I just eat it whole. I also eat my hard boiled eggs with the shell on, and I eat any bones that I can manage to chew mostly fish and chicken.
I do stick with mostly organic fruit though.
I also like the idea of tossing the whole orange in the blender that is a great idea.
I am gonna make a glass right now and try it out.
This is a good point. If you stick to organic produce, you should inspect for any fungal damage - this will naturally be a bit more common on produce which lacks pesticides. Again, in small quantities, I doubt it makes much difference.
The Army’s WWII, and I believe WWI, orange marmalade included orange peels. It was the worst stuff imaginable IMHO. Come to think of it, I think what they gave us in WWII was WWI surplus.
The wax, as well. When I peel oranges I get flakes of wax all over me from the peels. It’d be hard to wash that off well enough, I would thing.
All marmalade includes the peel. That’s what makes it marmalade. (See adirondack_mike’s link.)
Marmalade is yummy - I’m going to go have some now. I’m very interested to hear the opinions on whole-citrus-blender-orange juice. but not so interested in boiled eggs + shell. Ow!
The wax is food-grade and is edible, but some packagers spray the wax and pesticides on at the same time so you probably should try to get as much off as possible.
Ever had Orange-Flavored Chicken chinese food? The big-piece kind? They leave little pieces of orange peel in at the bottom in all the sauce, and some pieces stick to the chicken. I’ve eaten a few by mistake.
I usually eat the entire apple, core and all (after chewing of course, but not the stem b/c I heard of a kid who got the stem stuck in his backbone by swallowing it wrong and died 
:eek: real news story!), I’m wierd too. 