I have just finished a marathon 3-week session of preserving citrus from my trees--and lemons from a neighbor. Because this is the first year of having enough citrus to eat, preserve, give away, and donate to the food bank, I was experimenting with different methods and estimating what I might use until next season. It has been interesting--especially finding out exactly how many cups of marmalade one gets from a measly five pounds of citrus :]
I was just wondering what others here have done to preserve their extra citrus.
This is what I made with the citrus I have: I have navels, valencias, blood oranges (do not know the variety; but they only have red spots), tangerines, Minneola tangelos, white grapefruits, sour oranges, and mandarins. I made marmalade (tangerine-orange; lemon makes an intense marmalade, so I may try that in a sauce), canned lemon juice, a variety of syrups (to make lemonade, curd, or use as is on sweets like cake), canned oranges in sweetened grapefruit juice, canned sweetened grapefruit juice, salt preserved lemons (and orange peel and grapefruit peel), and dehydrated orange slices.
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Lots of wonderful ideas. Every year I say I'm going to make up a batch of Limoncello, and every year I do not get to it, but thought I would pass that idea along. The traditional recipes call for only the peel, but if I get around to it, I'm going to use the juice and peel.
FYI The store bought lemons are usually Eureka's but picked early. They get sweeter the longer you leave them on the tree. You can actually use lemons in their green stage, just pick when big enough to get something from them, but they will be tarter and not as juicy as when the get to the yellow stage.
I made Limoncello after a freeze downed most of my lemon crop last winter.
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/limoncello/Detail.aspx
I've gotten rave reviews from friends and families, and it was quite easy to make. I've seen other recipes that call for using Everclear, but having made other liqueur in the past using that, I know that it is much stronger than we like. We're not looking to get buzzed, but rather to enjoy a fruity cordial to sip.
Hi Jeanne,
Yes I think Everclear would be over the top. I use vodka for all my fruit liquors and works nicely.
If those were sweeter Eureka lemons, then I would hate to try them green! I assumed they were Eureka because the tree did not have weapons like Lisbons.
Other than Limoncello, the salt preserved lemons was one of the few ways I found to try to use as much of the whole fruit as possible. Thank goodness I have a compost pile for the peels and pith I could not use.
Just an FYI - citrus peels break down very, very slowly. It is best to grind or cut them as small as possible so they at least don't just sit there in the compost like a hunk of something :-)
I made lemon syrup, orange syrup (from sour oranges), lemon-apple syrup, and tangelo syrup (tangelos are more tart). I mix a ratio of 3/4 cups juice to 1 cup of sugar (equals 1 1/4 cups syrup). I like my lemonade a touch on the tart side, so this ratio works for me to make lemonade (or using any of the syrups; add 5 cups cold water), curd (my recipe requires just another 1/2 cup of sugar along with the other ingredients), or drizzled over pound cake/cup cakes/etc. The first time I made syrup, the recipe called for adding water, but I think that is a waste of canning space and limits uses.
The lemons from my neighbor were Eureka (I think) and very tart compared to lemons I have purchased from the store, so I think I may need to sweeten that one further--so taste-test a batch first (try 1/2 to 3/4 cups of juice to 1 cup of sugar). The lemon-apple syrup is less tart because of the apple, but you cannot taste apple. It just has a more complex flavor that is nice and you cannot tell it comes from apples. The tangelo is very sweet, I think because the tangelos are not as tart as the lemon and sour orange.
From what I have read and tasted, canned sweet oranges can develop an off flavor (the effect of being canned). Recipes recommend canning sweet oranges half and half with grapefruits for flavor improvement, but I thought the sweetened grapefruit juice (1 tbsp sugar/1 cup juice) worked out very well. The oranges do not taste fresh, of course, but they taste better than in plain syrup when eaten from the jar (and I can drink the juice afterwards!) and seem to work well in salads or just with whipped cream :]
Wow, I'm tired just reading all of that! I'm actually getting ready to make a batch of salt preserved lemons today. That's my favorite use for them, but I do also make lemon curd, and of course juice some and freeze the juice.
I am tired from doing all of it and am glad to be done for the season :] I guess I covered much of the citrus-preserving spectrum, except for making home-made orange concentrate and freezing juice. Has anyone tried orange concentrate?
How do you use the preserved peel? This is my first batch (I made plain, coriander-ginger, coriander-thyme, and cinnamon), but I am not accustomed to adding peel to my cooking and have been looking for examples (simple meals and more complex ones) to get me started.
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