There was one good thing that happened this year. And no, it’s not the Duke and Duchess of Sussex proving their naysayers wrong (which should be celebrated). It’s the citrus fruit!
How juicy! How perfectly sweet! How so deliciously delectable, we couldn’t get enough. There were even tweets about how great the naartjies tasted this year, that people were buying more than they usually do and how they were polishing them off quicker than they thought they would.
I’ve stopped buying naartjies because I don’t have the maturity to exist in the same room as one and not eat it.
— Musa Gwebani (@musa_gwebani) July 28, 2020
Now with the season nearly over and prices expected to skyrocket again, it’s time to buy even more and start preserving and making interesting and delectable dishes with your favourite citrus fruit.
I scoured our archives and found some of my favourite citrus recipes over the years. From citrus coconut cake to home-made marmalade, let’s say farewell to winter by enjoying the best fruit of her season.
Coconut Citrus Cake
Ingredients
180g butter, softened
250ml castor sugar
5ml vanilla extract
6 eggs
375ml flour
10ml baking powder
100g desiccated coconut
grated rind of an orange, lime and lemon
TOPPING
2 oranges
2 lemons
2 small ruby grapefruit
625ml water
625ml granulated sugar
Method
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the creamed mixture.
Mix in the coconut. Add the grated rind and mix to combine.
Spoon the mixture into a square 20cm cake tin which has been lined and greased.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
TOPPING: Cut the fruit into 3mm-thick slices.
Combine the water and sugar in a large shallow frying pan. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Add slices of fruit in a single layer and simmer gently until the rind of the fruit is translucent and soft. This will take about 10 minutes.
Remove the fruit and place on a wire rack. You will have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your frying pan.
Once all the slices are cooked, retain the remaining syrup to pour over the cake.
If the syrup has thickened, add a little boiling water to thin it down to a medium syrup.
Once the cake is baked, remove from the oven and pierce all over with a skewer.
Pour the hot syrup over the cake.
Allow to cool completely before removing the cake from the tin.
Arrange the cooked citrus slices on top.
Four Citrus Marmalade (makes 4 x 250ml jars)
Ingredients
1 orange
1 lemon
1 grapefruit
1 naartjie
500ml water for every 250ml pulp
250ml sugar for every 250ml pulp
Method
Wash fruit well. Roughly cut into pieces, removing the pips.
Place the fruit into a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Measure pulp into a large saucepan. Add 500ml water for every 250ml pulp.
Bring to the boil and cook for five minutes.
Stir in the sugar.
Allow to boil rapidly for 30 to 40 minutes or until setting point is reached.
Pour into sterilised bottles and seal them while still hot.
Lemon Squash
Ingredients
10 lemons
4 cups water
3 cups sugar
Method
Use a vegetable peeler or channel knife to zest 4 of the lemons.
Bring the water to a boil in a large, wide pot over high heat, then add all the lemons, including the zested ones, and the strips of lemon peel.
Cook for 2 minutes, then transfer the lemons to a bowl to cool.
Reserve 2 cups of the lemon cooking water and the boiled strips of lemon peel in a separate medium-sized saucepan.
When the lemons are cool enough to handle, cut them in half, then juice them into a large measuring cup, straining and discarding the pulp, seeds and spent lemon halves. The yield should be 1 to 1½ cups.
Add the sugar to the lemon cooking water and lemon peels in the saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, cook for 5 minutes then remove from the heat.
Discard the lemon peels, or reserve them for candying. Stir in the fresh lemon juice until well mixed.
Fill the jars, leaving a 0.5cm head space. Wipe the jar rims well and place the lids and rings, tightening until just secure. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath, starting timing from the moment the water returns to a boil.
Remove the jars from the water bath, setting them upright on a folded towel to cool completely. Make sure the seals are tight before storing, for up to 1 year.