This recipe teaches us an easy way to make homemade air freshener and diffuser refill with inexpensive orange peels🍊. No essential oil is needed~
Feel free to substitute the orange peels with any type of citrus peels, such as lemon peel, grapefruit peel, or pomelo peel. 🍋
You can use this refreshing citrus pure dew as a home deodorizer, a reed diffuser, a pillow spray, or a natural perfume.
Homemade air freshener from orange peels
Orange peels naturally contain a great amount of orange essential oil, which has a a pleasant scent and can be used as a natural air freshener.
Most factories use a cold extraction method, such as machine abrasion or cold pressing, to get orange essential oil. You can also extract a small amount of orange oil at home using a garlic press.
In today’s recipe, we are going to use an easy steam distillation method to get orange peel water essential oil. Specifically, when we boil orange peels and water, the orange oil will evaporate with water and condense on the cold lid. By collecting the liquid dropping from the lid, we will get a small bowl of orange pure dew, which is a mixture of orange oil and water.
Usage of Orange Pure Dew
By steam distilling four orange peels, we will be able to collect about 2 oz orange pure dew. You can pour the orange pure dew into a mist spray bottle or a diffuser bottle.
Some benefits of using orange pure dew include but not limited to:
- Air freshener: Put your homemade orange pure dew into a diffuser bottle with some reed sticks, it can keep the air smelling clean, refreshing and purely delightful. You will of course have a better mood when your room is filled with natural pleasurable citrus fragrance.
- Pillow sprayer: The compounds found in sweet orange essential oil can calm the body and soothe the mind. Orange peel is also abundant in the powerful antioxidant d-limonene which can also help with maintaining normal cellular regeneration. Spraying some orange pure dew mist on your pillow before sleeping can promote relaxation and help you fall asleep faster and more comfortably.
- Natural insect repellent: Orange oil contains d-limonene, when applied to ants and other insects, it removes the waxy coating on their respiratory system, suffocating them. Therefore our homemade orange peel air freshener can also be used as a natural insect repellent.
- All-purpose cleanser: With its natural antiseptic, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, our orange pure dew can be used as a powerful degreaser, a kitchen spray, a sticker residue remover, and an odor eliminator.
Use with care if you have a pet
While citric acid in orange is safe to consume for humans, it is very toxic for dogs and cats. Therefore, you’d better keep the orange peel air freshener or diffuser away from your furry pets.
Although our homemade orange pure dew will only contain a few drops of orange oil, which shouldn’t cause any harm to your cats or dogs unless they drink it all, I still suggest you proceed with caution. The amount of essential oil, the ventilation of the room, and route of exposure are all important considerations.
I do have a cat at home, who is never allowed in our bedroom. So I’d only use this orange pure dew as my bedroom air freshener or pillow sprayer.
Homemade Air Freshener & Diffuser Refill with orange peel
Equipment
- knife and cutting board
- medium pot with lid (Mine is 1.5 L. Can use glass pot, stainless steel pot, ceramic pot, cast iron … Make sure the lid is heat resistant. Do not use a lid with a plastic knob.)
- small bowl (Use a glass bowl or a ceramic bowl)
- reed diffuser set (optional)
- mist spray bottle (optional)
Materials
- 150 g orange peel (About 4 oranges’ peels. Or you can use any type of citrus peels, such as lemon peel, grapefruit peel, pomelo peel …)
- 300 g water
- 25 ice cubes
Instructions:
1. Wash the oranges (or other citrus fruits like lemons, grapefruits, pomelos) under clean running tap water. Peel the oranges, eat the fruits, slice the orange peels into ¼-inch-wide strips.
2. Place the orange peels into a medium pot, create a hole in the middle with your hands, then place a small heat-resistant bowl half-buried in the hole. The edge of the bowl should be at least 1 inch higher than the level of orange peels.
3. Carefully pour about 300 g/ml cold water into the pot, or until most of the orange peels have been immersed. Make sure you don’t pour any water into the small bowl.
4. Place the lid onto the pot upside down. There should be some room between the edge of the bowl and the lid.
5. Place the pot on your stovetop, cook over medium low heat until simmering. Do not bring the water to a boil, otherwise the water might spill into the center bowl and pollute the orange pure dew.
6. Add a few pieces of ice cubes onto the lid. Ideally use a lid without any hole on it. If there is a hole on your pot lid, you can cover it with heat-resistant plastic wrap. As the ice cubes melt, replace them with fresh ice cubes. (Adding ice cubes can speed up the condensation process. You can also skip the ice cubes and leave it simmering for a longer time.)
7. 40 minutes later, turn off the heat, carefully remove the small bowl from the pot. You should have collected about 2 oz orange pure dew in the small bowl.
8. Let the orange pure dew cool to room temperature. Pour to a mist spray bottle to use as an orange air freshener or pillow spray. Pour to a reed diffuser bottle to use as an orange reed diffuser.
My other orange peel recipes you will also like:
Orange Peel Air Freshener & Diffuser Refill
Equipment
- knife and cutting board
- medium pot with lid (Mine is 1.5 L. Can use glass pot, stainless steel pot, ceramic pot, cast iron … Make sure the lid is heat resistant. Do not use a lid with a plastic knob.)
- small bowl (Use a glass bowl or a ceramic bowl)
- reed diffuser set
- mist spray bottle
Materials
- 150 g orange peel (About 4 oranges' peels. Or you can use any type of citrus peels, such as lemon peel, grapefruit peel, pomelo peel …)
- 300 g water
- 25 ice cubes
Instructions
- Wash the oranges (or other citrus fruits like lemons, grapefruits, pomelos) under clean running tap water. Peel the oranges, eat the fruits, slice the orange peels into ¼-inch-wide strips.
- Place the orange peels into a medium pot, create a hole in the middle with your hands, then place a small heat-resistant bowl half-buried in the hole. The edge of the bowl should be at least 1 inch higher than the level of orange peels.
- Carefully pour about 300g/ml cold water into the pot, or until most of the orange peels have been immersed. Make sure you don't pour any water into the small bowl.
- Place the lid onto the pot upside down. There should be some room between the edge of the bowl and the lid.
- Place the pot on your stovetop, cook over medium low heat until simmering. Do not bring the water to a boil, otherwise the water might spill into the center bowl and pollute the orange pure dew.
- Add a few pieces of ice cubes onto the lid. Ideally use a lid without any hole on it. If there is a hole on your pot lid, you can cover it with heat-resistant plastic wrap. As the ice cubes melt, replace them with fresh ice cubes. (Adding ice cubes can speed up the condensation process. You can also skip the ice cubes and leave it simmering for a longer time.)
- 40 minutes later, turn off the heat, carefully remove the small bowl from the pot. You should have collected about 2 oz orange pure dew in the small bowl.
- Let the orange pure dew cool to room temperature. Pour to a mist spray bottle to use as an orange air freshener or pillow spray. Pour to a reed diffuser bottle to use as an orange reed diffuser.
Video
Great And easy recipe ! Thank you so much for your idées ! 🌺🇫🇷
Thank you!
Hai thank you for sharing the recipe..but may I know how to keep this orange peel diffuser? For example..is it in refrigerator? And how long this diffuser takes time before expired approximately? Btw, I really love your channel..🤗
This orange peel air freshener is such a clever idea. I love how it brings a natural and refreshing aroma to my home. Thanks for sharing this eco-friendly DIY.