Saving the Summer Citrus Season

In California nothing is as iconic amongst urban farmers you didn't even KNOW were urban farmers until you see them abashedly bringing in enormous shopping bags of lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits and leaving them in the employee lounges at the office with the exhortation FREE PLEASE TAKE THEM. Our weather is so perfect for citrus a typical homeowner uninterested in gardening can still end up with hundreds of pounds of citrus excess, and our farmer's markets are brimming with citrus. Since one person can only eat so many orange slices, it can feel overwhelming to have so much excess. What to do with it all?

On a recent trip to Sorrento, Italy, arguably the citrus capital of the world with their sunny climate and volcanic soil, I saw lmeons the size of grapefruits and oranges the size of canteloupes and everywhere creative uses for these wonderful sweet acidic treats. The roadside coming down the Amalfi coast was dotted with vendors selling fresh squeezed orange juice (nothing like it) and lime and lemon granita--simple lemonade or limeade frozen into slush and swimming with wafer thin sliced fruit. And dried fruit and nut seller in one of the open markets sold all kinds of candied fruit--a little different than our tasteless, leathery version of dried fruit. The candied strawberries in particular were so good I probably ate a pound just on their own in that first day; and my other favorite, surprising me utterly were the candied lime slices. Even in America you'll sometimes find candied orange peel or jellied orange, usually coated or dipped in chocolate. But limes I hadn't seen before in the dried fruit sections, and certainly not these lovely green round slices coated in citrus sugar. The dried fruit vendor confidently offered a myriad of samples to everyone who so much as paused to look at his wares, and I soon found out why: everything was delicious and surprising. As soon as I got home I went looking for a recipe to candy fruit and found it was incredibly easy to recapture that taste of Italy.

Slice limes thinly and blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Drain, and then in the same pot bring equal parts sugar and water to boil, and simmer lime slices for 10-15 minutes. I wanted a lot so I sliced up a dozen limes and made three cups (3 c. water, 3 c. sugar) simple syrup which was plenty to cover the limes and keep them off the bottom. Drain again but save the lime infused syrup for margaritas, tea, or ice cream. Spread on a cooling rack for one hour, then dust with sugar.

When trying to figure out what else to do with your citrus, remember that lemon isn't the only kind of citrus you can use for curds. All citrus can be made into curds--a basic recipe is:

4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 lemons, zested and juiced (or 4 meyer lemons, 4 limes, 3 oranges)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cu. butter

Whisk and cook over medium high heat, stirring gently but continuously with a heat proof rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the butter melts and the mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes. Don't let the mixture boil or it will curdle. Transfer the curd to a bowl and stir off the heat to stop the cooking and let it cool.