It's Citrus Season!

January is a month that offers so much. Revitalization, clarity, new goals, an enriched direction. The dichotomy can be interesting to maneuver. As we are still in the midst of a cold winter while guiding our way through a post-holiday gloom. Now, I don’t have a cure-all to this confusing time (especially after what 2020 brought to us) I can discuss one little juicy, pulpy, beautiful tidbit that may just help! One that I personally look forward to greatly in January. The colors, the fibers, the intoxicating scent, stunning applications in both savory and sweet cooking. I am talking about Citrus.

Whenever I am interviewing pastry chefs to add to our bake team at Sweet Dee’s, my favorite question to ask is “what do you think the most underused/underrated ingredient in the kitchen is?” Ideally the answer is something that can be applied to sweet and savory cooking and baking. The most common answer has been salt. My answer is citrus! Citrus can truly be an elixir that coincides beautifully with the new vibration that January brings us and lift up some of the melancholy that the end of the Holiday season brings.

This will be a four part series released through the month of January discussing this amazing fruit and just some of the things you can do with it!

But first, can we all just appreciate how breathtaking IT IS!?

There are so many different varieties of citrus out there but I wanted to focus on what you can get at your local farmers market or grocery store. We have limes, lemons, Meyer lemons, ruby red grapefruit and blood oranges pictured. When I was younger we had a little Meyer lemon grove on the side of our home, consisting of about four trees. My mom and I would pick them and figure out what recipe to create with them! They are a lovely, sweeter version of your typical lemon and can transform your baking, cocktails, or even savory dishes. They are a rarity to find, so now is the time to get yours! Along with the beautiful Blood Orange of course.

dehydrated citrus

Dehydrated citrus is a fun way to keep your rare citrus through the year- Blood Orange I am looking DIRECTLY at you. Meyer Lemon and regular lemon do end up looking the same when they are dehydrated, so it’s best to save those for cooking, baking, or cocktailing.

If you keep your dehydrated wheels stored in an air tight container, they can last you a good portion of the year. Blood Oranges are exceptional for this as their color adds a sophistication and rarity to really wow your guests or instagram feed.

I used a dehydrator for this process, but you can set your oven to 195 degrees F if you don’t have one. Start by rinsing and drying all of your fruit. We are using blood oranges, lemons, limes and ruby grapefruits in the photos below. With a serrated knife, thinly slice the fruit. (about 1/8 of an inch) You can bring out that handy mandolin if you have one and need perfection, but thinly slicing will work just fine! Lay your wheels of fruit flat on your racks for about 6 hours. If you’re using an oven, put them on a rack and slide them in your oven for about 4-5 hours. You’ll know your fruit is done when there is VERY little moisture to the touch. The smaller your fruit, the quicker it’ll be, so keep checking in on them once hour 4 hits.

Dehydrated citrus is quite lovely isn’t it? However it isn’t the most delicious. As candied peels that you see often are boiled and soaked in sugar to get rid of the tart and accentuate the sweet. So keep in mind that these are mostly enjoyed by our eyes as garnish as opposed to a snack.

Decoration

It was January 3rd, I had taken the tree down, the garland, the candy canes, and all the Christmas magic and warmth that December brings. There’s a sudden air of winter cleaning, all of the fairy dust and glitter gets vacuumed up, the twinkling lights are unplugged. There’s half of a pumpkin spice or christmas cookie candle still eyeing you on your coffee table. You can’t morally light it, spice and sugar are left in the previous year as your lengthy list of goals is hanging on the fridge. First the candle gets lit and all of a sudden you found the cookie stash??? Any way. Getting back to my point, your home now seems a bit bare. Mine did at least, I wanted to brighten up my kitchen or dinner table. Since i’m clearly a citrus spokesperson it seemed only right to re-deck my halls with these bulbs of enchantment. (Sorry ornaments. First I purchased a large glass vase, and piled the different colors of lemons, limes, orange and grapefruits inside of it. Call me Martha Stewart - it looked fantastic! I couldn’t stop there. Below is a lil DIY floral arrangement to brighten up a table or any corner of your home.

Floral arrangement

Tools you’ll need:

Something to put your decor in. I used these floral boxes from Amazon

Silk or artificial florals from your local craft store

Round styrofoam cylinder (measure your box and get almost the same size to insert inside)

Wire Cutters

Lemons, limes or other citrus

Wooden Skewers

Let’s begin! Once I gathered all of my tools, execution didn’t take long at all! I started by adding tissue or parchment (or honestly a trash bag or two works just the same) in the bottom of my floral box to raise up the styrofoam piece. Then the wire cutting process begins. Cut your florals with just an inch or two under the bloom or leaves. Begin sticking in the styrofoam. I started with the large white florals and then brought in the greenery. This is the part of creative fun! Tap into the floral arrangement side of yourself that you didn’t know was there and have fun with it! Bend the stems for a more organic approach or tuck them in for a more conservative arrangement. Once your florals and greenery are where you’d like them, it’s now time for the citrus. Cut down your wooden skewers just a tad, you’ll want the leverage as the citrus is heavy and you don’t want it swaying. Puncture the fruit with the pointed side and stick it in your arrangement where you see fit. Before you know it you will be snapping photos of your arrangement and sending it to your friends and family because it is just stunning!

Stay sweet, stay tart!

XO, Sweet Dee