The peel of conventionally raised oranges is likely to contain pesticide residues that you can’t wash away. However, it can be difficult to digest, and I don’t advise eating it (or grating into dishes) unless you take it from organic oranges. Orange zest is also high in fiber and flavonoids as well as vitamins A, C, B5 and B6, plus calcium, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin and folate. This could have some beneficial effect on weight management and metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors for stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Another flavonoid found in oranges, including the pith and peel as well as the fruit, is naringenin, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and some ability to reduce carbohydrate absorption from the intestinal tract, possibly reducing rapid rises in blood sugar after eating.

Pith also contains assorted flavonoids, including hesperidin, which may help blood vessels function better and may reduce inflammation. It is high in fiber that may help lower cholesterol levels and contains as much vitamin C as the fruit itself.

He also noted that the pith from all the fruits had a “rather unpleasant spongy chewiness.”Īlthough it’s certainly not where all the nutrients are, the pith can be good for you. He reported lemon pith to be only mildly bitter.

He found orange pith to be tasteless but grapefruit pith to be quite bitter, leaving a lasting sting on the tongue. Some years ago, a Washington Post reporter did a pith taste test because he was puzzled that some of his cookbooks said its bitterness would ruin the taste of a dish, while his blender cookbook recommended grinding the pith, seeds and pulp into smoothies.

Clementine oranges and diabetes