Rosette Jordaan/istock
Gathering to preserve—and share
—winter’s citrus bounty
By Jordan Champagne
The cold rains of winter usher in a natural time to slow down and get together with friends and make preserves. The crisp air makes being inside the kitchen over a boiling pot a great pleasure. The conversation intermingles with the steam and fogs up the windows to make our homes the coziest places to be. We join the local food revolution and reduce our carbon footprint. We nourish our friends and our inner desire to work with our hands and create something beautiful. And along with preserves, we create memories and gifts prepared with love.
The whole experience, from obtaining the fruit to making the preserves, encapsulates all we want out of a winter day—and it can really connect us with other people and our food.
It’s the season of citrus, and it’s growing all around us.
You may have a tree in your backyard or perhaps your neighbor does. We can trade with our neighbors, receiving some of their citrus in return for jars of the preserves we make.
We can invite friends over to make some marmalade together (recommended to distribute the slicing). It’s a real joy to work together in the kitchen and share in the results of our work.
And of course, all of our glistening jars of preserves make wonderful handmade presents.
Bring your farmers some of the preserves you made with their produce. The mellow pace of winter gives you a chance to talk to them at the farmers’ market and show your appreciation. Thank them for driving the produce to market so that you could bike there. Thank them for standing out in the rain by buying 10 pounds of their blood oranges and pink grapefruit.
There are so many ideas for citrus aside from marmalade.
You can make a citrus syrup that can be added to sparkling water or cocktails. You can juice the lemons or limes, freeze the juice and make candied citrus peels. A wonderful treat is citrus preserved in honey or Moroccan preserved lemons that are a sort of pickled citrus that can be made with lemons or limes. And of course there is your classic marmalade!
I am happy to share with you two different recipes for preserving citrus—and because at Happy Girl Kitchen Co. we like to empower you to preserve fruits, they’re as simple as they can be.
We always recommend purchasing organic ingredients, but with citrus it’s especially important because you are including the rind in your preserves.
Happy Girl Kitchen Co.
173 Central Avenue, Pacific Grove
831.373.4475
www.happygirlkitchen.com
RECIPES
About the author
At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
