Versatile citrus rules
The runt rules.
The citron — thick-skinned, faint of flavor, dry, looking like a lumpy lemon — is the least-favored of all citrus fruits, but the one that gave the entire family its name.
All oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, mandarins, lemons, limes — all citrus, in other words — get their family name from the citron, still grown (albeit sparely), despite its disfavor, along the Mediterranean and in the United States.
It was the first of the citrus, centuries ago, to make it from the family’s origins in Asia to Europe, you see, and because Europe is where most of our language’s plant names began, citron begat “citrus.”
Citrus is a large and influential family of fruits indeed, the third-largest grown after the pear and apple family and the plantain and banana clan. And citrus is on greater display this time of year.
Though a third of the globe’s citrus production becomes juice, many of the individual fruits can be turned into something to eat — out of hand, certainly their most popular way down — but also as freestanding dishes of salads, macerates and desserts.
Citrus go back 20 million
years, when Australia was still attached to Asia. As an edible fruit, their structure is unique: rinded, with a bitter pith, comprised of hundreds of little vesicles filled with juice, themselves corralled into separable locules (what we call the segments).
Their hues — from green through yellow, orange and red — are a function of carotene, chlorophyll and anthocyanin, all the same agents that color other plants.
And, unlike many other fruits such as bush berries or apples, they need warmth to flourish. The world’s largest producer of oranges? Brazil, where 30 percent of all oranges are raised. Of tangerines (mandarins), China. And of grapefruit, the United States.
An important member of the citrus family is Citrus reticulata, which we know as mandarin oranges, tangerines or clementines. They are small, generally quite sweet (which is to say, lower in acidity than typical lemons or limes), easily peeled and noticeably segmented.
The clementine is a cross between the mandarin (not surprisingly named, since the small orange was brought to England from China in 1803) and the larger, sweet orange. They obtain their name from a monk named Marie-Clément who hybridized them in Algeria around 1900.
Tangerine is simply an alternate nickname for the mandarin, given to it by North Americans who assumed that the mandarin, when introduced here in the late 1800s, came from Tangier, Morocco.
What citrus offers to all cooking, above all, is acidity, the sour or puckery sensation that juices up the palate with saliva and for which function all acidity is rightfully praised in culinary art. Unlike salt, which enhances flavors, acidity balances them, so that, for example, the dullness of sweetness or fat is rendered more lively or interesting.
If anything is too “plain” in your food — too starchy, perhaps, or too monochromatic — a mere whisper of acidity (a squeeze of lemon, a dash of vinegar, a spoonful of white wine) will bring it to a life you could not imagine it had within it.
Orange Salad (Ensalada de Naranja)
From Claudia Roden, “The Food of Spain”; serves 4 Ingredients
2 oranges
1 small head romaine lettuce
½ sweet red onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 tablespoon port or sweet Pedro Ximenez wine
Salt Directions
Peel the oranges so that no pith is left, and cut them into slices crosswise. Cut the lettuce into wide strips. Arrange the lettuce and oranges on a platter and sprinkle on the onion.
Just before serving, beat the olive oil, vinegar, wine, and a little salt with a fork and pour over the salad, then gently toss the salad.
Any-Other-Citrus Vinaigrette
From Samin Nosrat, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” Ingredients
1 tablespoon finely diced shallot
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
¼ cup citrus juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon finely grated zest
Salt Directions
In a small bowl or jar, let the shallot sit in the vinegar for 15 minutes to macerate, then add the citrus juice, olive oil, zest, and a generous pinch of salt. Stir or shake to combine, then taste with a leaf of lettuce and adjust salt and acid as needed.
Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days. Ideal for garden lettuces, romaine and Little Gem lettuce, and blanched asparagus.