What's In Season: Citrus Fruits

Satsuma tangerines

After spending Christmas in sunny Florida, I've got citrus fruit on the brain. I'm craving bright, clean flavors after all the rich holiday food I've been eating. Are you all egg-nogged out, too? Lucky for us, citrus fruits are just coming into season. Delicious and nutritious (no, really!), there's nothing sweeter than a ripe, in-season orange. Plus, the vitamin C will give you a boost of immunity during these dark winter months.

Citrus fruits to try:

• Satsuma Tangerines
• Clementines
• Mandarin Oranges
• Cara Cara Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Kumquats
• Pomelo (like a milder grapefruit)
• Tangelo (a hybrid of the Pomelo and the Tangerine) 

What to do with them: 

Peel. Eat. Enjoy a naturally sweet treat that's completely guilt-free.

Halve the fruit, sprinkle a small amount of unrefined sugar on top (try Demerara or Turbinado), and put it under the broiler. Or you can take a crème brûlée torch to the top, if you have one. Dig in and enjoy the caramelized sugar against the bracing fruit.

Make citrus sugar! Cut the peel away from the fruit, scraping away any pith. Bury the strip in a jar of sugar, let it infuse, and you will have citrus-scented sugar in just a week or two. You can use the sugar to make Pain Perdu or to give an extra oomph to pancakes, fritters or sugar cookies.

Candy the citrus peel and dip one end in dark chocolate. In France, this treat is known as an "orangette" and it's traditionally made with orange peel. Why not make a version with grapefruit? To candy citrus peel, you must blanch it in boiling water at least twice in order to get the bitterness out. Next, cook the peel in simple syrup until it becomes translucent (To make simple syrup, bring equal parts sugar and water to a boil. Cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture has thickened). Dry the candied peel on a wire rack for at least an hour. To finish, melt dark chocolate in a double-boiler and dip 2/3 of the candied peel into the chocolate. Place it on a piece of parchment paper until the chocolate sets.