Making the most of citrus fruits

Our family is very big on eating local produce and seasonal foods. 

Eating seasonally and locally has many benefits: a smaller carbon footprint, supporting your local economy, it's usually healthier etc. 

Right now we're in the winter season, so locally that means turnips, fennel, cabbage, carrots, dates, and... Citrus fruits! Lots and lots of citrus fruits. In fact, the only there is here during the winter are citrus fruits! So usually it's only during the winter that we buy bananas, to have a bit more variation in our diet. 

In our garden, we've got a lemon tree. It gives fruits about 3 times a year, so not only in the colder months. I love it, and we use lemons a lot! 

But tangerines and oranges we buy at the farmer's market. It's still tangerine season, and after the tangerines we'll move on to the oranges. 

But what do you all do with these citrus fruits? Like I said, citrus fruits are the only fruits in season now. So apart from imported bananas, that's the fruit we eat when its winter. Most people don't want to eat the same thing over and over again and with fruits, that's no exception. So here's some tips. 

*Making juice: an obvious one, but often overlooked. Fruit juice tastes very different than actually eating a fruit, in my opinion. 

*Incorporate into your favourite breakfast. One of my favourite breakfasts is plain yogurt with oats and some sort of seeds/nuts. I just add whatever fruit there's in season, whether that is tangerines, pomegranates or grapes. 

*Make snack platter. This is not only for kids, adults enjoy it very much as well, from my experience! That way, just like with eating fruit alongside your breakfast, it's not the *only* thing you'll eat. Some ideas to include to a snack platter: dates (also seasonal fruits), nuts, cheese, dried fruits such as raisins, raw veggies, olives. 

*Salads. Apparently there are some people who don't want to mix fruits and veg in a salad. I'm obviously not one of them. I really like fruits incorporated into salads, and I used a variety of fruits doing so. Citrus fruits are no exception and they're a fantastic combination with many other seasonal produce, like fennel and carrot. 

*Last year, it was the first time I made a huge batch of orange jam. Everyone in our family enjoyed it so much! In fact, the other day we just finished the last container of orange jam. It's defenitely a keeper. Added bonus is that you won't have to add as much sugar as you would with making other kinds of jams. We all love jam here and I make lots of different kinds of jam; peach, strawberry, fig, even watermelon jam! 

The huge amount of peels I gave to one of our neighbours who have a few cows. Apparently cows really enjoy eating orange peels. I was glad all those peels weren't tossed into the trash and going in a landfill! 

*Dehydrating oranges is something you could do. It makes a wonderful natural candy! 

*Another thing you can do with peels- whether it's lemon, tangerine or orange peels, doesn't really matter- is making your own cleaner. The only other ingredient you'll need is vinegar. It makes a good and ecofriendly cleaner! 

*If you like that winter-y kind of scent in your home but you don't like the idea of bringing all kinds of chemicals into your home, just make your own. Boil down some orange peels, apples, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla- among other things. I'm sure you'll find some interesting additions as well. 

I hope you found these ideas useful.