End of Summer Citrus Picking and Recipes

I’ve never been a beach kind of girl, but the two things that I really took to when moving to California were the mountains and the vegetation. When we found our home I was beyond excited to find out that we have citrus trees out back!

Our first day in the house we woke up early and picked some pummelos, which are basically Asian grapefruits, and tangerines for breakfast.

This picture of Tyler was taken in May 2014 and our trees were filled with ripe or nearly ripe citrus. Now we’re in August and our trees are just starting to produce! I’ll blame it on the crazy California drought.

As a total novice in the field of citrus picking upon moving in, here are a few helpful bits I’ve learned over the past year and a half:

• Do pick fruit that’s easily plucked from the tree. If you’re having to pull on the fruit with all of your might then the citrus is not ready to be picked.
• Do not remove fruit from wet trees to store, whether it be from rain or dew. This causes oleocellosis – a rupture of the oil glands in the fruit which leads to fruit skin discoloration.
• Do a scattered taste test. Pick two fruits from separate parts of the tree and taste away. It’s important to note that both are ripe to gauge if the entire tree is ready for picking.

Now for the fun part. I chose a few of my favorite citrus recipes – whether edible or just for fun – to share with you guys! I’m definitely going to whip up a few citrus-infused meals this weekend in my kitchen.

Which are you going to try?

XO, Sarabeth