My Citrus

Most of you know I have a large citrus collection - my pride and joy.  I've kind of become a citrus hoarder as the greenhouse in winter is overflowing, to say the least.

I returned from quite a long stay at the city house, and what did I find?  Several dead trees and the ground covered in citrus flower petals at the base of every pot.  There was to be a banner crop this fall. They had not been watered and in high summer temperatures, it is an every other day task.

This is my Australian Finger Lime tree.  It has never produced (in 3 years) and this year it was covered in little purple flowers.

So, there were no more flowers and the leaves were curled and drying up, but look what I discovered this morning.  My first crop of baby finger limes.

This is what the finger lime looks like when ripe.  It is full of large vesicles filled with lime juice.  They can be used on salads and I don't know what yet.  I'll have to look for recipes.  I can't wait to taste them.

Who'd A Thunk

Citrus is ready to be plucked from my trees at the farm.  Small crop this year resulting from a deep freeze in the greenhouse last winter when the propane ran out.  I feared all my plants had died, but they survived though the crop output was affected.

Maldon Sea Salt from across the ocean and citrus rind from a greenhouse in Oklahoma combined to make a condiment for...  I rarely cook anymore.  May have to give this to my daughter, the cook.  I am amazed at global commerce in this day and age.  Wonder if they will be eating Solyent Green in fifty years?

It will be sunny and 60 degrees today.  I'll be all smiles.  

Lemonade

In case you missed it, this year is my first crop of a citrus called Buddha's Hand.  It is the oldest known citron and has been propagated for over 3000 years.  Pretty incredible.  This wee, inch long babe, started in May of this year.

And this is the whopper it became.

Tried to scale it with an egg.  It is so ugly, it's beautiful and it smells of heaven; a fruity, perfumed scent.

This is the dicey part.  It has no pulp and thus is used for a candied peel.  I tried it like this, but it had too much moisture.  A fail or perhaps a learning curve.  Then I decided it would have to be stripped as peel without the pith which would work much better.  So I tried it and bleck.  If I want something sugary, I'll have a Snickers instead. I'll just enjoy smelling and growing it. 

This is one of my Meyer lemon trees.  I have a greenhouse full of them and other types of citrus.  Now comes the hard part, juicing all of them and most are ready to go.

Lime Time

My Persian lime tree produced twenty limes this fall.  My first crop I might add.  You notice all the peelers.  I have even more.  You see, to make limoncello (I don't even know what you'd call limoncello made from limes), one must peel only the surface rind. It is hard to find a peeler that works well. No white pith as it will ruin the batch.  

I poured a very strong grain alcohol into a jar with the peels.  After a few weeks in a cool, dark place, the peels will snap like a potato chip.  Then, I'll add a sugar syrup and bottle it up and into the freezer.  It will grow hair on your chest.  I rarely drink it, but instead, give it away.

Not so for my lime juice.

I freeze it in little cubes and bag it up for when I need smaller amounts.

Voila!