Tangerines, satsumas, clementines, oranges, Meyer lemons, brilliant red grapefruit -- you name the delicious fancy citrus and you will do hard to beat the availability and prices you'll find around the Christmas holiday season. In fact, a common nickname for tangerines of whatever variety is the "Christmas orange," and traditionally, they were used as stocking-stuffers. That's because their peak season is from November through January in the Northern Hemisphere, making them the perfect winter fruit that feels all nice and summery, not to mention a well-known decent source of Vitamin-C.
There are plenty of gourmet things to do with citrus, and while many of them involve turning them into delicious juice, not all do. A few quick ideas are:
Peeled and tender: Peel your citrus with a kinfe by cutting off the tops and bottoms first and then working your way around with curved, downward strokes on a cutting board. Cut close to the peel and pith (the white part) but try to remove all of it. Then, slice inside the segments and remove the pulpy fruit from the tougher skins. Be sure to remove the seeds, and use the resulting super-tender wedges in salads or as garnishes.
The old-fashioned friendly: Peel them and share them. This isn't much of a tip, admittedly, but tangerines and oranges are particularly lovely and almost perfect for sharing. It's a great way to have a healthy snack while sharing a friendly, casual daytime conversation. Peeling them and pulling the segments apart a few minutes before guests arrive is sure to be a pleaser. Of course, the smell that comes from peeling citrus fruits by hand is absolutely fantastic to have in the house. These would be item number 6 on my list of Five great snacks for the Christmas holiday season!
Improving your drinking water: Slice them thinly and add the slices to a pitcher of water or add them to a mostly-full bottle of club soda or seltzer (and close the bottle). Store this in the fridge for a couple of hours. After they've soaked for a little while, you can pour the citrus-infused water for a nice, healthy alternative that really brightens up the mood and can make you feel a little more energetic.
Improve your holiday drinks: Slice them thinly and add them (particularly tangerines!) to your mulled cider, mulled wine, or sangria recipes. Yes, do. They are also fantastic sliced thinly and added to almost any cocktail (gins and tonics, for instance) or even simply floating in champagne.
Make a drink: Juice them and enjoy the fresh juice immediately. Better yet, add a little rum or vodka and some sort of sparkling water to make a spritzer, served over ice with one of those thin slices or an extra wedge. Particularly nice is to blend some citrus: the juice of two tangerines, one juicing orange (navels aren't so good here), and a Meyer lemon is almost the perfect combination!
Add champagne: Around brunch time, a fresh-squeezed tangerine mimosa is really hard to beat. Just squeeze a couple of your tangerines into juice and top it off with some bubbly champagne or sparkling wine.
Homemade sorbet: Sorbet (like softer sherbert) is ridiculously easy to make if you have access to an ice cream maker. Simply combine fresh juice and water, one to one, and add sugar to taste (usually about one cup of sugar per cup of juice works well). You can add some nice liquers as well as long as you're quite light with them, otherwise it won't freeze well, perhaps Cointreau or Gran Marnier, both of which would add citrusy depth. A touch of champagne or buttery chardonnay here can be nice too, but don't overdo it! A tablespoon of either per cup of juice is pushing it. Heat it all over low heat in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar all dissolves, and then let it cool. After that, pour it in the ice cream machine, and let it freeze. For another holiday-time tip, you can add fresh cranberries to the saucepan while it simmers and then strain them out after they've poached. It's an excellent use of an American native fruit!
Homemade sorbet "bullfrogs": Unfortunately, this is not the correct name for this drink, but it doesn't take away from its incredible goodness. Mix your homemade sorbet (or a store-bought one) one-to-one with ice-cold champagne and stir well until it's relatively smooth. Serve it in big goblets and grin like the naughty little kid it makes you feel like you are as you drink it down!
Take full advantage during their peak season! Oh, and as an added little tip: to get the most out of your freshly squeezed citrus juices, you want the oils to come out of the peel and into your juice. Not only do they add an incredible depth of flavor, but they can be quite healthy as well. A couple of tips for this would be to press the juice out of the fruits, to squeeze the oil directly out of the peels into the juice after you juice them, or to give the squeezed peels a good squeeze again, over the juice bowl, and then drop them in before squeezing them dry again. That tiny amount of oil can make difference between a good juice drink and a great one!
Buy them locally! The Knoxville-area Earth Fare and The Fresh Market locations often carry excellent organic citrus fruits including Meyer lemons and fantastic, large grapefruits (and even pulmellos and uglifruit). Other citrus fruits are widely available in the Knoxville-area grocery stores throughout the late fall and winter months or all year long, depending on the type.
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