Orange peel, Banana peel & Tea leaves recipes

Material Scientist Edward Hill created a series of ‘shake and bake’ recipes for the lab as a lo-fi way to work with orange peel, banana peel and tea leaves.

These recipes offer an easy access point and would be suitable for initial exploration into material experiments and are suitable for younger people as there is no use of heating equipment etc.

RECIPES

ORANGE PEEL INITIAL STEPS:

• Collect and dry out as much orange peel as you wish (put collection points at work/ school etc or visit cafes/ shops that squeeze fresh orange juice and can supply you with peels)
• Once you have collected enough peel and it is thoroughly dried out you can either dice it or turn it to a powder
• To dice the orange peel you need a paper shredder – slowly pass the dried peel through the teeth and this will dice into into small sections roughly 5mm thick
• To powder the orange peel you need a nutribullet or similar blender that can blitz dry ingredients – put the dried peel in the blender with a milling blade and blitz until it has turned to a powder

 

 
RECIPE 1
Diced orange peel

Ingredients:

• 4 parts diced orange peel
• 2 parts water
• 2 parts corn starch
• 1 part vinegar
• 1 part pectin

Method:

• Mix ingredients together and knead (as you would with bread)
• Mould the mixture into a desired shape that is reasonably flat to allow even drying
• Place on a drying rack with air access to both sides and leave to air dry for 48+ hours (we found there was slight cracking on the surface and the sample twas powdery to touch)

 

 
RECIPE 2
Powdered Orange Peel

Ingredients:

• 4 parts orange peel powder
• 2 parts water
• 2 parts corn starch
• 1 part vinegar
• 1 part pectin

Method:

• Mix ingredients together and knead (as you would with bread)
• Mould the mixture into a desired shape that is reasonably flat to allow even drying
• Place on a drying rack with air access to both sides and leave to air dry for 48+ hours

(using orange peel powder created a much finer dough than with the shredded peel and we found it binds together a lot better – also there was less cracking when dried)

 

 
TEA LEAVES INITIAL STEPS

• Collect and dry out as much tea leaves as you wish (put collection points at work or visit cafes that serve loose tea to collect there waste)
• Once you have collected enough tea leaves leave it to dry
• Keep half the tea leaves as they are (unprocessed)
• Powder the other half of the tea leaves using a nutribullet or similar blender that can blitz dry ingredients – put the tea leaves in the blender with a milling blade and blitz until it has turned to a powder

RECIPE 3
Unprocessed Tea Leaves

Ingredients:

• 4 parts dried tea leaves
• 2 parts water
• 2 parts corn starch
• 1 part vinegar
• 1 part pectin

Method:

• Mix ingredients together and knead (as you would with bread) – (The mixture is very messy and wet, with large voids between tea leaves)
• Mould the mixture into a desired shape that is reasonably flat to allow even drying and place on cling film (as so wet)
• Dry on the cling film – first dry one side before flipped the sample over allowing other side to dry
  (Final sample feels quite firm but brittle and has an uneven surface due to different sized tea leave)

 

 
RECIPE 4
Tea leaf powder

• 4 parts dried tea leaf powder
• 2 parts water
• 2 parts corn starch
• 1 part vinegar
• 1 part pectin

Method:

• Mix ingredients together and knead (as you would with bread) – (The mixture binds a lot better than the unprocessed leaves and isn’t as wet)
• Mould the mixture into a desired shape that is reasonably flat to allow even drying and place on cling film
• Dry on the cling film – first dry one side before flipped the sample over allowing other side to dry (Final sample feels strong with a very smooth surface finish)

 

 
BANANA PEEL INITIAL STEPS

• Collect and dry out as much banana peel as you wish (put collection points at work/ school etc or visit cafes that use bananas and can supply you with peels)
• Once you have collected enough peel and it is thoroughly dried out you need a nutribullet or similar blender that can blitz dry ingredients – put the dried peel in the blender with a milling blade and blitz until it has turned to a powder – the powder created had a particle size from 3x3mm to much finer.

RECIPE 5
Powdered Banana Peel

Ingredients:

• 4 parts dried banana peel powder
• 2 parts water
• 2 parts corn starch
• 1 part vinegar
• 1 part pectin

Method:

• Mix ingredients together and knead (as you would with bread) – (The mixture forms a thick paste, thicker than the tea but softer than orange)
• Mould the mixture into a desired shape that is reasonably flat to allow even drying and place on cling film
• Dry on the cling film – first dry one side before flipped the sample over allowing other side to dry (Final sample took much longer to cure than tea and orange and the surface texture was uneven)

 

 
The above recipes could all be moulded into particular shapes, although the powdered recipes would allows for the best definition. Alternatively you could also cut them with a scalpel to create certain shapes before they are dry.