Sprucing up your winter kitchen: fun ways to use citrus
Citrus season is upon us. This can be confusing for people who live in areas where citrus is never local, which includes most of the United States.
Citrus trees bear fruit over the winter months here in the US; hence, I try to keep my citrus consumption within the months of November to March. You’ll find the most variety in stores (and for some of us—CA, TX, FL and AZ—even local options) during these times. Obviously, it’s not always possible to stay seasonal with citrus since we always seem to need lemons and limes. The key here is to just be aware and do your best.
Not surprisingly, I’m gung-ho on citrus-i-fying my kitchen while it’s in season (and local) here in Texas. I’ve found local, organic Meyer lemons, Valencia oranges, and a couple kinds of grapefruit. Here are some of the projects I’ve undertaken this winter:
1. Grapefruit & chile marmalade, named by a reader as Maude Ellen Marmalade
The obvious canner’s response to citrus overload is marmalade. Not everyone likes marmalade (though it does make for fine marinades and additions to savory dishes). My J wasn’t really a marmalade fan until I put this one in front of her. She proceeded to eat every last bit of this marmalade over the past month. I didn’t even get a dollop out of the last jar. I guess I’ll be making another batch of this before the season’s over.
2. Preserved Meyer lemons
Super-special lemons cured and preserved in kosher salt. Easy breezy recipe found in Eugenia Bone’s seminal book, Well-Preserved.
For other Meyer inspiration, don’t miss Bunkycooks gorgeous post on how they used up their box of Meyers!
It’ll be ready for drinking in 4 days!
4. Meyer lemon marmalade
I used Shae’s recipe in her lovely ebook. I like how she describes the process, even how to slice lemons thinly enough to avoid ending up spreading hunkin’ chunks of rind (even if it’s the lush Meyer rind) on your scones or toast.
Eugenia Bone also posted a lovely story and recipe for this tender, sweet (not-at-all-bitter) marm on her blog last year, plus there’s a recipe for Meyer lemon granita there too!
5. Orange pectin, which I used in the following jelly recipe.
Linda Ziedrich tells us how to make orange pectin in her book, linked in the recipe below. To honor Linda (and save space and time here), I ask that you buy, borrow from a friend, or check out Linda’s book from the library. The recipe is not hard; it just requires 6 oranges, some lemon juice, a blender or food processor and waiting for it to sit overnight. I halved the recipe and accidentally added the not-halved amount of water in the second step. I don’t know whether the jelly will be jelly or syrup yet, but regardless, it is mighty delicious.
Creamsicle Jelly
yields 4 quarter pints
modified ever so slightly from Linda Ziedrich’s recipe in my fave sweets preserving book
I love this recipe because it’s super small, and if you use short, quarter-pint jars you don’t have to use a big canner pot. I used a regular-sized stockpot with a 9” cake rack on the bottom.
Start your canner pot. Place your jars and rings in the pot and bring it to a boil while you prepare your jelly.
Halve and juice 4 Valencia oranges; this should yield about 1 cup orange juice.
Combine in your preserving pot:
- 1 cup fresh-squeezed juice
- 1 cup homemade orange pectin (see note above)
- 2 Tbs lemon juice
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
At this point I added two dried (read: already used/scraped) vanilla beans. These were first used in making vanilla ice cream and vanilla bean marshmallows. (Spent vanilla beans are great to keep to flavor other dishes, sugar, alcohol, lots of other things.) This provided just the vanilla hint I was after, and still plenty of the vanilla seeds for visuals in the jelly. If you don’t have a vanilla bean (dried or not) try adding 1/2 tsp vanilla extract after your jelly is completely cooked, before you ladle it into jars. Don’t stir it up or you might affect the set; it’ll distribute as you ladle into jars.
Put pot and its contents over medium heat until your sugar dissolves. Raise heat to med-high and cook jelly until it reaches 220 degrees F. This will probably take about 10-12 minutes. Do skim the foam, gently with a broad metal spoon so you end up with a clear-ish jelly. Stir with a heat-proof spatula only periodically so you don’t lower the temp of your jelly (thus preventing it from reaching a set).
I use a $14 thermometer on jelly because the spoon test and I don’t mesh. When you’re testing your jelly with your preferred set test (thermometer, spoon, frozen plate, etc.) just remove it from the heat so you don’t accidentally overcook it.
Pull your jars out of the boiling water, ladle hot jelly into hot jars without stirring/disturbing the jelly too much (if that’s even possible). Wipe rims and add two-part lids; place in boiling waterbath for 10 minutes.
Don’t touch the jars for at least 3 days! Homemade pectin can take a while (up to a week) to reach a set, so the less you fidget with your jars the better your chances for a set. I don’t really care if this jelly doesn’t work out because it might be the most delicious syrup I’ve ever had.
On that note, more things you can do with your citrus and scraps:
6. Simple syrup
Addie brought me and Megan each a jar of this for hosting the Austin food swap in December. I used it over pancakes and in a batch of nearly-successful citrus marshmallows. She wrote about simple syrups in her Austin American Statesman blog, Relish Austin, but to make this batch she used a tablespoon of cardamom and sliced up peels from 3 oranges to flavor the syrup.
My not-quite-successful citrus marshmallows were too bleedy (not enough sugar), but they made a friggin’ delicious addition to fudge sauce.
7. Triple sec
Not that different from the Meyer limoncello recipe, you just make the sugar syrup in the beginning and add all the ingredients at once. Let it sit for a month and then make the best margaritas you’ve ever had. Cathy has a recipe up that I’ll try with my next batch of oranges. I had one of Cathy’s margs last year when I visited. SOLD!
8. Orange vanilla buttermilk muffins
Recipe as promised from my post earlier this week on making your own buttermilk.
yields 12 muffins
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix your flours, or use 2 cups gluten flour or an all-purpose GF flour mix like Pamela’s. I mixed:
- 1/2 cup white rice flour
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 2 Tbs potato starch
- 2 Tbs GF oat flour (I make my own by mincing GF oats in my food processor)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
Then add the other things that will make your muffins work:
- 1 Tbs baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Whisk your wet ingredients in a separate bowl:
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed Valencia orange juice
- 4 Tbs unsalted butter
Then add 1 tsp vanilla extract to the wet ingredients.
Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and don’t over-mix (or you’ll spend your baking soda’s puffing power too early). It’ll be a little lumpy.
Dollop batter into greased muffin tin or into prepared paper cups.
Bake for 10-14 min, rotating the pan midway through, until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Meyer lemon ice cream
I couldn’t let Meyers’ season pass without an attempt at Meyer lemon ice cream.
I’m trying a new-to-me method for this. I’ll let you know how it turns out after I churn it up.
Secret giveaway: You made it all the way through this post and didn’t fall asleep or leave your computer desk in a rush to hoard citrus. I want to send you a quarter-pint jar of my Meyer lemon marmalade. US & Canadian residents only please (I can’t afford intercontinental shipping, sorry).
All you have to do to enter is: leave a comment on this post by Thurs, Feb 3rd telling me what you’re doing with your citrus this season. And if you don’t leave me your email address in the little box that asks you for it, I won’t be able to let you know you’ve won.
Kate
Congrats to Wendy aka Bladerunner from Portland OR on winning the little jar of Meyer love. She has cool blog on recycling, you can check it out here. Her latest post shares info on ways to de-consumerize Valentines day=suh-weet.
Thanks for all the citrus-inspiring comments. Keep up the good work!
Reader Comments (54)
HI Kate,
You work fast!! Thank you so much for mentioning me in your citrus recap! I definitely need to make some marmalade to go along with the rest of the Meyer Lemon goodies. I have a few left! ;)
Happy weekend!
Gwen
Wow, Kate! What an action-packed post full of great citrus ideas! You know I am envious of your local citrus. But now that the season is upon us, I've got a couple of projects up my sleeve, local or no... I made an orange-cranberry marmalade yesterday, and have plans for a grapefruit vanilla bean, maybe an orange-chile. But homemade triple sec! I am intrigued.
Just last night I made two dozen blood orange cupcakes with blood orange buttercream. I froze them, six per freezer bag, so that I can thaw them as needed and enjoy blood orange treats throughout the rest of the winter.
I just put up a bunch of Seville Orange Marmalade! Delicious! karen_klemens@yahoo.com
Mmmm, love this time of year!!! I make a big batch of blood orange marmalade - enough to hopefully last me a good portion of the year and to use to barter. Last year I bartered my marmalade for a 115 year old Balsamic vinegar starter that was ***supposedly*** brought here by a Benedictine monk! Our swap had to be done under a cloak of secrecy. Oops, I guess I just blew that one... This weekend I'm making blood orange and miso glazed salmon with fried bhutanese red rice. Yum. LOVE your blog! :)
You have tons of good ideas on here. I am from AZ so am lucky to have local citrus. I plan on marmalade, think I am going to try limoncello and the creamcicle jelly sounds delish too! I may have to fight my kids to get any oranges as they tend to gobble them up as soon as they hit the counter.
You don't have candied peel on here!
I used Addie's candied peel from the swap in some scones I made (also with Meyer lemon juice) and they are fantastic. Definitely worth making some peel for, I think.
I'm running straight to the store after work to try out that triple sec recipe! Mmmm!
Well, I was just going to can up some tangerines but Creamsicle Jelly!? I'm so making some of that!
So many ideas! I haven't preserved any citrus yet, but I've been eating an orange between breakfast and lunch every morning, and zesting a little bit of peel onto salads and in yogurt. Delish! Maybe I'll tackle marmalade next weekend...
I always make meyer lemon curd, but I am excited to see the triple sec post on here, and I will be trying that!
Oh what would it be like to eat delicious fresh citrus? Living in Idaho does have it's drawbacks, but I have a secret ingredient! Nothing like lemon huckleberry muffins with lemon butter. Today I'm tackling candied orange peels dipped in dark chocolate!!!! YUM, and do I even have to say anything about the Creamsicle Jelly??? You know that's in the works. Love it all missy!
meyer lemon & pear marmalade w/ cinnamon & cardamom. Might have to whip up another batch before the meyers are gone... :) thx for the inspiration!
I'm stalking the blood oranges and meyer lemons at our grocery store. Buying them any time I can, and eating them up! So far have not been able to amass enough for any preserving but I'm working on it! (We live in Colorado, no local citrus!)
What a great post Kate! Chock full of info! Can't wait to try a lot! I'll be down in California again in a few weeks and coming home with a suitcase of citrus! =)
I wish citrus was a local food for me, but I've never been so lucky! I'd love to see what you can do with it!
I haven't found meyer lemons in PA, but I'm thinking candied grapefruit scones...
Wow, those were some AMAZING ideas! Creamsicle jelly?!? I'm sold on just reading about it, now I'm going to HAVE to make some. Spent most of the day making orange marmalade with a hint of ginger, and yesterday made lemon blueberry bread. Tomorrow is an orange spice cake and at least half a dozen clove studded oranges, because they make the whole house smell delicious, and they look pretty neat too. I remember my grandmother making them every year around New Year's and giving them to every household in the family to remind us that summer would be here before we knew it.
just finished the last of my preserved lemons tonight. 'tis th season to make more...great post kate!
I made blueberry and meyer lemon marmalade from my new canning book - Canning for a new Generation by Liana Krissoff
I froze pounds of blueberries in the summer and had been saving them for some reason, for this marmalade. It's awesome!
I plan on attempting lemon curd for the first time in my life using meyer lemons, wish me luck!
I am making some blood orange marmalade using a twist on another traditional marmalade recipe. Also hoping to find some Meyers to make the marmalade featured in the eBook you discussed earlier. Also have a recipe for some ginger lime marmalade, might whip up a batch of that this weekend! Fun fun!!!! Love canning, and love citrus!
Hi Kate - love your site! I'm a newbie, but a very happy one! I'm preserving my first lemons this year and making my kiddo her favorite treat, pudding, but with citrus juices!
Mostly, we are just eating our citrus :) But I did manage to make orange cranberry marmalade before that batch of oranges were devoured. I do plan to do a little baking however!
Thank you for this wonderful compendium! I'm going to try the limoncello with the Meyers here in CA. I've preserved Meyers in salt and made marm batches with Meyers, blood oranges, and a non-id'd orange from my backyard. I do love citrus!