It may be awhile before you’ll see a perfectly ripe local strawberry or a fat B.C. peach, but if you like a sweet orange or a ruby red grapefruit – you’re in luck. Food columnist Cinda Chavich says January is the time to indulge in all things citrus as they’re at their freshest and juiciest at this time of year.

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Q: SO IT’S HARVEST SEASON IN THE CITRUS BELT. YOU’VE ARRIVED WITH AN AMAZING COLLECTION OF CITRUS FRUIT – WHAT EXACTLY IS THAT MASSIVE THING?

A: Yes, citrus fruit is harvested in warm,  but not tropical parts of the world at this time of year – places like Florida and Texas, Spain, Morocco and even China.

Which is where this gigantic grapefruit-like fruit was grown. I was out at the local Asian market this week and I came across these amazing pomellos – these are gigantic citrus fruits, native to Malaysia but now grown in the big citrus belts everywhere in the world.

This is the largest fruit in the citrus family – suitably known as Citrus Grandis in the botanical world.  They can reach a size of more than 10 inches in diameter, that’s bigger than a bowling ball.

I weighed this one and it’s nearly 2 pounds. And you can see, it’s big - it looks like a massive grapefruit with a bulbous bump on one side. This is the super-sized Hummer of the grapefruit world.

The taste can be quite sweet, and inside, the flesh may be pale yellow or even red. The skin is really thick, so this is a good citrus to use for candied citrus peel.

The pomello is an ancient ancestor of the modern grapefruit – they’re less juicy than a grapefruit and are very popular in southeast Asia, where they’re considered quite a delicacy.

What’s really neat about pomellos is that once peeled, the large segments can be peeled right out of the thick membrane, so you have beautiful citrus segments. In Singapore, a single segment of pomello can sell for 50 cents - which may be related to the amount of work required to remove the very thick peel.

A lot of pomellos are grown in China, but I was also in the Florida citrus belt a few months ago, and I noticed they are growing these massive grapefruit-like fruits there, too. This one came from California.

Q: NOW FROM THE POMELLO, AT THE LARGE END OF THE CITRUS SCALE, THERE IS SOME REALLY TINY CITRUS FRUIT IN YOUR BASKET.

A: This teeny little fruit, the size of a robin’s egg, is a kumquat. Isn’t that a great name. These citrus fruits are small, only an inch or two long, but they pack a flavour punch -

with a sweet thin skin and tart flesh.

Don’t peel kumquats – just wash them well and eat them whole or slice them. Kumquats, make a beautiful garnish, whole or sliced, and you can use them in salads, to decorate cakes or in duck and pork dishes. Try them in sweet and sour Asian dishes for spectacular colour and flavour.

Q: WHAT OTHER KIND OF CITRUS FRUIT DID YOU FIND?

A: Well, I found these beautiful tangerines, still on the stem, and beautifully packaged at the Asian T&T market. Chinese New Year is coming up and oranges are symbolic of wealth and good luck, so are often exchanged at this time of year.

This is a “Clementine” – a type of mandarine with very loose pebbly skin, so it’s easy to peel. This one, from California, is very sweet, more like a Japanese mandarin, but we sometimes  also see clementines from Morocco or Spain, which have tight skins and a very rich, complex flavour – these are some of my favourite oranges so scoop them up if you see them.

These are tangelos – which is a hybrid cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit. They look like a  big tangerine, but you can recognize they by the big bump on one end.

Then, of course, we have the usual navel oranges. They’re great eating oranges. And if you can find true Valencia oranges, they are the best for juicing.

Blood oranges also turn up at this time of year – they are really sweet with a deep red flesh and juice – with almost a raspberry flavour to the juice. These oranges are rare, most come from southern Italy, so they’re expensive, but worth seeking out for a treat at this time of year. Blood orange juice is a stunning red colour, and is nice in a martini.

Q: WHAT ABOUT THE BEST OVERALL ORANGE?

A: Well, there’s a good reason that the Navel orange is so easy to find. It’s considered one of the best eating oranges out there, sweet and juice with skins that are relatively thin, so a good flesh to skin ratio.

For juicing, Valencia oranges are considered the best --  they make good eating oranges, too, but they’re more  fibrous than navel oranges and usually more acidic.

Seville oranges from Spain are best for making marmalades, because of their bitter character, and area also used in savoury dishes, like the classic Duck a l’Orange.

In fact, they say that marmalade was invented to use the bitter Seville orange, which is really not good for eating on its own.

Q: ARE ALL OF THESE CITRUS FRUITS GOOD FOR YOU?

A: Yes they are. Citrus fruits are high in Vitamin C, as we all know, and they’re low in calories, about 80 calories for the average navel orange.

Vitamin C is important for preventing and fighting off the common cold so it’s handy that oranges are in season during flu season.

Recent studies suggest that orange juice actually out performs vitamin C supplements when it comes to fighting colds, which may be due to the natural combination of vitamins and other components in the fruit.

And eating oranges is a good way to stay on your January diet – oranges and grapefruit rank #1 and #2 in fibre content, as compared with the top 20 most consumed fruits and vegetables, and the fibre and pectin in citrus fruits helps to suppress the appetite by making you feel full longer. An orange has 7 g of fibre, a grapefruit 6 g, compared with an apple at 5 g.

One ounce of fat-free pretzels is equal in calories to two small oranges – a medium orange has only 80 calories. And citrus fruits have low “glycemic loads” – 10 is considered low and an orange has a glycemic load of 5, half a grapefruit, just 3.

Even the peel is good for you – loaded with flavinoids.

Q: HOW DO YOU BUY AND USE CITRUS FRUITS

A: You can’t dent, or bruise an orange – which is one reason why they are so popular in the grocery business – so just choose fruit that are heavy for their size – it means they have the most juice. Don’t worry about oranges with a green tinge – they can be green and still fully ripe.

An orange perfect portable, peel-and-eat package - so just peel them and enjoy for breakfast, lunch or snacks. Or cut them in half, across the middle, then cut each half into wedges to make them easier to eat. There are neat orange peeling tools that score the skin for easy peeling.

If you want peeled orange segments for a salad, cut the peel from the whole orange, using a sharp knife, and exposing the sections, then slice between each membrane to release the individual sections. Do this over a bowl, so you can capture the juice for your salad dressing.

To get the zest from an orange – which is great in baking or sauces – scrub the fruit and use a zester or a microplane grater to take off the coloured rind, this gives the finest strips of zest and makes it easy to avoid the bitter white pith.

RECIPES?

When I was in Florida recently, I was served a broiled grapefruit for breakfast which was very tasty – just cut the grapefruit in half, loosen the flesh from the skin by cutting around the edge with a grapefruit knife, then top with some fine berry sugar and a bit of sherry or orange liqueur and broil.

Try a pomello when you see them in the market – they usually have very little acid, and although the flesh is drier than a grapefruit, they are often very sweet. It you’re ambitious, save the thick pomello peels, cut them into strips then boil them for 5 minutes, drain then simmer then slowly in a heavy sugar syrup for about 30-45 minutes, to create a candied peel that can be eaten like candy or rolled in sugar or dipped in chocolate.

I love to quarter kumquats and add them to salads or stir-fries – the skin is sweet and the flesh is sour which is an unusual flavour twist.

I also found a recipe for Orange Toast - which I thought sounded great – just like cinnamon toast really, you top the buttered toast with a mixture of sugar, orange juice and finely grated orange zest and then broil it.

And I brought a  couple of recipes to post on the website – one for my favourite kumquat and watercress salad with a nice gingery Asian dressing, and another for making marmalade.

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©Cinda Chavich 2007

www.tastereport.com

Cinda Chavich talked about the world of citrus fruit Jan. 12, 2007 on CBC radio - listen to her conversation with CBC host Cathy Little.