In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
It is citrus season in Southern California. The fortunate have a tree in their backyard or at least a good friend ready to share the bounty. Generally, if you have a mature citrus tree you have more fruit than you can use.
A few weeks ago I drove to meet my Orange County sister, Carol who brought lemons, Cara Cara oranges and blood oranges. She gladly accepted cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce and celery in exchange.
Our Washington navel orange tree is almost thirty years old and usually produces over 500 oranges. We give away bags of them and have OJ most every morning for months. I freeze cubes of juice and zest for later use. And then there are the “projects.” That’s what I’m in the middle of now that cauliflower season is over.
Over the weekend I made Candied Orange Peel linked here for the how-to. I’ll assess my orange marmalade stores soon, accelerate the give-away and make this season’s batches.
Last week I made Sweetened Oven Dried Orange Slices from my sister’s blood oranges (now rebranded as raspberry oranges) along with my own navels. These are just the right sweet-tart afternoon snack to fend off the chocolate craving. Like the candied citrus peel they can be frozen for later enjoyment or gifting.
The Satsuma tangerines near the end of their season but have produced steadily since early December. We just pick a few as needed and especially enjoy with lunch.
The kumquat crop will be small this year. I picked a few yesterday. Usually the patio tree is laden with the oval fruit but a heat wave occurred when the blossoms were setting fruit. Not to worry—I’ll enjoy them in salads and finish the kumquat marmalade from last year.
I’ll close with more orange—an over-wintering monarch and a ranucula caught in the early morning kitchen light.
You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers around the world harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
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