And time to make the recipe with the most unappetizing name in history
Winter is citrus season here in the U.S., which means time to preserve fruits at their most luscious and flavorful. In Ireland, I’ve become accustomed to citrus that is passably good, but when you’ve lived for years near or in citrus-growing regions and know the magic of eating an orange pulled off the tree, warmed by the sun and plucked from the branch just moments before?
There is really no comparison.
That said, most of us (including my Irish self) do not have regular access to this exact brand of magic. And the recipes in this newsletter: One savory, one sweet, will work with whatever oranges (or other citrus) you have.
Bonus: The sweet recipe also has the most unappetizing recipe name I’ve ever heard. But I promise, it’s delicious.
It’s also a sneak peek back into my very first book, all about food in Early Modern England. This particular book represents the beginning of my life of food writing, and while I think I’ve grown considerably as both writer and recipe developer since, I’m still incredibly proud of it and its importance to my journey.
Citrus is delicious
Citrus is native to South and East Asia, and our current wealth of citrus are all descendents of a few species (citrons, pomelos, and mandarins) that mutated as they moved around the world and were selectively bred. You can see a nice citrus family tree here.
Citrus fruit is, botanically speaking, a modified berry, and was introduced to the Americas by the Spanish in the 1500s. Citrus had already been imported to Europe for centuries, and was popular, albeit sometimes expensive and often available only in urban areas (just like many specialty ingredients in shops today).
These recipes are a reflection of the movement of citrus between continents, and its eventual entrenchment within cuisines far from its birthplace.
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