Every month, Diversivore launches two new thematic features. This month’s ingredient page feature is all about citrus. Keep coming back for updates and recipes related to this theme, or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out on anything new.
For those of us in colder climates, the arrival of winter has long been accompanied by a rather depressing change in the availability and diversity of good produce. Gone are the vibrant stone fruits and berries of summer, and once the autumnal apples and pears have dwindled what little fresh produce remains tends towards the earthy, brown, and vegetal. But further south where the sun’s rays shine a little longer, winter is the time to harvest citrus.
Now I aim to eat local as much as I can, but you can have my imported citrus when you pry it from my cold, mitten-clad hands. Citrus fruits inject much needed colour and flavour into our winter palates, and I mean that in both senses of the word ‘palate.’ Now admittedly, I live in the warmest part of Canada, but I grew up in a much, MUCH colder place (hey Edmonton). So while the grass is still green here, to me January still feels like the heart of winter. Because of that, it feels like a time when I could really use something bold and bright on my plate, and I can’t think of anything that does the job better than citrus.
This month on Diversivore, I’ll be uploading recipes and ingredient pages related to citrus. As for the recipes, you can expect a pretty broad range of choice, and not just desserts. While I get that the bright, sharp flavours of citrus fruits work beautifully in desserts, they’re actually incredibly versatile across the culinary spectrum.
As for the ingredient pages, trust me when I say that there’s a whole lot more to citrus than oranges, lemons, and limes! The sheer popularity of a small number of citrus fruits has cast something of a shadow over some of the less-frequently encountered varieties, and that’s a shame because there are some amazing varieties that you can track down with just a little effort. One of those neglected citrus fruits has already been posted in an ingredient page: the Seville Orange. Seville oranges (aka bitter oranges) are one of those fruits that slides under the radar. They look like sweet oranges, but they sure don’t taste like them. They’re probably best known in the West as the orange used to make marmalade, but they also provide a juice that contributes an incredible and unmistakable flavour to Mexican and Cuban dishes. If you can find some, I strongly encourage you to try out a few of the recipes (like this one, or this one) that use them. Other citrus ingredient pages will be going up later this month, so stay tuned for more updates.
