Sooooo…. when I was in cooking school, one of my classes was knife skills. They basically teach you how to cut things so they look pleasing to the eyes, which makes people want to eat your food. It’s sort of like being a food artist. I’m a little OCD so chopping up carrots all the same size was fun for me. I know, I’m strange!

Anyways, one fancy thing they teach you is segmenting citrus so all you eat is the juicy segments without any pith, which is sometimes bitter and chewy. You are taught to cut away the outside skin and carefully slice each segment out with your paring knife. I always hated that you’d still leave so much pulp behind if you didn’t exactly slice right next to the membrane.

So, after some trial and error, I actually found an easy way of getting this done without slicing your fingers off and keeping every juicy morsel of pulp!! Check out this fancy not-so-fancy way of segmenting an orange. I promise, your guests will be amazed!

I am going to post up one of my favorite recipes after this one which will put your new secret skills to the test!

Step 1: Slice each end off the orange so you have a flat surface to work with.

2. Lay the orange on one of the flat sides and start slicing strips of the skin off. Then flip the orange over and cut the remaining skin. (Try to curve the knife as if you’re cutting in the shape of the orange. It’s okay if you don’t get all of the pith off in one cut; it’s better to go back and cut more than cut part of the orange.)

3. Slice the orange in half. (I try to pick a spot close to one of the membranes so I can keep the segments intact.)

4. Now… here is the secret to the trick!! Slice the middle of the orange in a ‘V’ shape to cut the center section out.

5. The orange will look like this when you stand them up. Make sure there isn’t any skin still connecting the slices together in the middle.

6. All you have to do now is separate the segments by peeling away the membrane. Do not try to peel it from the outside of the orange or it won’t work. You have to peel it away from the inside. (Note: Do not use an old orange because the membrane seems to stick more to the segments and it is really hard to peel off.)

Now you are left with perfect orange slices!!! Enjoy