Back in the day, I remember wondering how my grandpa could eat orange peels. I am not sure if he ever actually chewed them up and swallowed them or if he just chewed on them, but I tried to chew on one and the taste was not a good one to my four year-old tastebuds. Looking back, I now wonder how this works, as I recently discovered that the oil from an orange peel can actually melt rubber…. No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke, either! Take a look at this, and try it for yourself….oh, and if you’re wondering what this has to do with the outdoors, then make sure you test this outdoors as to not scare the bejeezus out of everybody with two and four legs inside the house:
This is the result of limonene from the orange dissolving or weakening the rubber balloon. Limonene is an essential oil that is present in orange peels in fairly high concentrations (the pure compound smells very strongly of orange). Limonene is a colourless liquid hydrocarbon. It is used in chemical synthesis as a precursor to carvone and as a renewables-based solvent in cleaning products, and as such is quite flammable and you can even start a fire with an orange, seriously!!
