December means citrus around here – lots and lots of citrus. Two of my neighbors have trees that they can’t keep up with, so we’re eating tangerines and oranges hand over fist.
When I ran across a recipe for tangerine syrup over on the hip girl’s guide to homemaking, I wondered if it was something we’d use. (I’m famous for going all gung-ho and canning a bunch of stuff that seems like a good idea, but in retrospect is just not something my family will eat – hello, mint jelly!) The list of possible uses that the hip girl included with her recipe sold me. Add it to sparkling water for a citrus-y soda! Make a marinade! Sweeten granola! How could I not try it?
The recipe was really very simple and easy to do. Since this was the only canning project I had going on, I processed the small jars in my stock pot, rather than heating up my big canner. The cute little jar you see up above was not processed; it will go into the fridge for my neighbor.
Hip girl suggests using 3 cups of tangerine juice, or up to 4-5 cups juice for a slightly less sweet, more zingy syrup. I used four cups of juice and my kids both thought the syrup was too sweet. Even when we added some to a glass of Perrier, they felt like the sugar overpowered the juice flavor. I’ll definitely make it again, but next time I’ll try five cups of juice. Or perhaps I’ll start with more juice (eight cups?) and reduce it down before I add it to the sugar, for a really intense flavor.
Do you have a favorite way to preserve citrus? I’m all ears!
This post is linked to the Living Well blog hop and Simple Lives Thursday.
This really sounds wonderful! We are craving citrus out here this time of year!
Sue Cellini recently posted..‘Tis the season
I made mint jelly one and we didn’t eat it either. We don’t eat lamb and I just couldn’t find anything to put it on. I tried it once as the center in chocolate thumbprint cookies, but found it too sweet and not minty enough. I’ve never canned citrus. We used to live in FL and had citrus trees. My favorite way to keep them was to just straight-up juice them and freeze the juice in portion sized bags.
Pam @ Ramblings of a Happy Homemakre recently posted..En Lieu of a Card
This looks absolutely wonderful. I wish we had citrus here.
This sounds like a simple syrup recipe, right? There are so many possibilities with this. What about watermelon–do you think that would work? Or grapefruit. I’m with you–I like things on the tart/sour side.
MyKidsEatSquid recently posted..Chef Q&A: Alex Young of Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Ooooh, or tangerine-grapefruit syrup! Best of all worlds!
Casey@Good. Food. Stories. recently posted..Cats and Humans Agree: Roast Chicken is the Best!
Thinking of all the crates of tangerines I’d need to buy to make this. How fortunate to be able to use the neighbor’s surplus! I would make this in a minute if I could. Love tangerine flavor. We also celebrate the holiday with the joy of tangerines.
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Very cool! Growing up and living in northern Michigan, citrus preserves are not my usual m.o. But I could probably come up with an apple or cherry preserve recipe or two.
Jane Boursaw recently posted..Reel Life Round-Up: Betty White Turns 90, Christopher Hitchens Dies, Ryan Gosling is Cool
That looks like a lovely gift, Kris. I am picturing it with a pretty bow!
merr recently posted..The 5-Question [Author] Interview: Brette Sember
Tangerine-grapefruit does sound good, Casey. Just rediscovering the joys of ruby red grapefruits at this time of year
sarah henry recently posted..Farmers’ Market Favorite Phoenix Pastificio
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