Preserving your citrus
A few times a year, a bunch of us Wisconsin farmers get together to source a truckload of sustainably grown citrus from Ed James down in Florida and then divvy it up amongst ourselves. It’s not carbon neutral, of course, but it’s basically the closest you’ll get to citrus-grove-to-table.
There’s a lot of reasons for the citrus industry being such a clusterf*ck right now, but one of the primary culprits is simply that there is way less citrus available than there used to be. That’s due to greening and inedible citrus, which comes from years of mono-cropping and poor soil management. Soil requires biodiversity to thrive, and plants require good soil. The problem is so serious that literally trillions of dollars have been lost and invested into the problem. One person we know for certain that is doing things the right way is Ed James.
Ed has actually developed his own methodologies to improve the health of his soil, selecting particular crops that provide the right nutrient rebalances. Because this citrus is so special, we like to hold onto it as long as we can! Here are some ways we keep it going. Any citrus applies!
CITRUS JAM
There is nothing so adult, sweet and decadent as a citrus jam. Perfect for all manner of charcuteries, wonderful on pancakes or waffles, a fun base for a salad dressing or a marinade. You will need pectin for this grapefruit jam recipe, as it can take a bit longer for the grapefruit jam to set than other fruits. Feel free to sub sugar with maple syrup, use oranges instead, & don’t skimp on the zest.
CANDIED SLICES
To achieve this gorgeous garnish that doubles as a fun snack, you’ll want to simmer your orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime slices in syrupy sugar water for about an hour and then set them to dry overnight. Great for cocktails, mocktails, snacking. The rind is our favorite part! String them up for a Pinterest-ready decoration. You can also just air or oven-dry ‘em.
CITRUS PASTE
This salt-cured citrus paste lasts one year in your fridge and is perfect for when you run out of citrus but still want that citrus-kick. The condiment you didn’t realize you needed. Add to sauces, marinades, vinaigrettes, and anything you need that flavor for. Prefer a syrup? Here we go.
FREEZE ‘EM
We like to get all the zest off, mix the juice with the zest, and then put into ice cube trays and then we’ve got little cubes of delish ready to go. Use in smoothies, as a base for a quick and easy juice, as a flavor blast to your marinade, or anything else you’d do with fresh juice!
MAKE YOUR OWN CITRUS-CELLO
Bored with your vodka? Add some lemon peels and let that sit a while and you’ve got a fresh batch of limoncello. You can infuse any alcohol with any kind of citrus rind to achieve a similar infusion.
