Expert Chef Tips for Cooking with Citrus Fruit

Adding citrus to your everyday meals is a fantastic way to liven up your dishes and get a nice nutritional boost too. Even novice cooks can easily add citrus to existing recipes. One thing to remember when you are starting to cook with citrus is to always use fresh citrus. Bottled citrus juices do not have the kind of rich, vibrant flavors that fresh citrus fruits have. Make sure that you have some fresh citrus fruits on hand in the kitchen everyday to use when cooking. Experimenting with new flavors and adding citrus into recipes can be a lot of fun, so do not hold back. Use these tips from expert chefs and cooks around the country to start adding more citrus into your daily cooking:

Zest adds zest to any dish – Using fresh grated orange zest, lemon zest or even grapefruit zest can add an entirely new dimension to a familiar dish. You can add zest to just about anything. Dry rubs, marinades, salad dressings, salads, pasta, fish, chicken, and dozens of other dishes. When you want to add some citrus flavors to a dish but are not sure how to work it into the dish add a few teaspoons of citrus zest to get the flavor you want.

Wash and scrape the peel – Make sure that if you are not using organically grown citrus fruit that you wash the peel thoroughly to remove any traces of pesticides before you grate the peel to make zest or cut the peel into slices to make candied peel. You will also need to scrape off the white pith before doing anything to the peel. The pith is very bitter, so make sure you remove it all or the citrus flavor you add to a dish might be a bitter one.

To get all the juice out of a citrus fruit bring the fruit to room temperature before you juice it. If the fruit has been chilling in the refrigerator for weeks you might need to put the fruit in the microwave for twenty or thirty seconds to warm it up before juicing. Warming the fruit will make the fruit release juice that is held in small sacs deep inside the fruit so that you will be able to get all the juice out of the fruit. This is also a great way to get more juice out of your citrus fruit when you need juice to make smoothies, drinks, or preserves. Just make sure you do not get the fruit too warm.

Taste the Sunshine with Hale Groves

At Hale Groves, we believe the best gifts come from the land, not a factory. For generations, our fruit has been grown slowly under the Florida sun, picked at its peak, and delivered fresh to your door. From sweet Navel Oranges to rare Honeybells, every gift shares the simple joy of real flavor—perfect for holidays, milestones, or everyday moments worth celebrating.

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