Saving citrus

We are deep in the midst of our annual citrus glut here in Southern California. Neighbors are ditching bags of oranges on your front porch and running away before you can give them back. The farmer's market is bursting at the seams.

What I mean is, it's the best time of year.

{pomelo slices from our tree}

Citrus season is fleeting, and I pretty much only eat oranges during these few months. Spoiled brat that I am, I hate buying subpar oranges from the grocery store. And it's not just oranges! It's tangerines and Meyer lemons and pomelos. What do you do with all that? The answer is you eat as much as you can and save the rest.

{zesting}

I've been trying to be extra good about putting up as much of the bounty as possible this year. I had a huge bowl of these beautiful Meyers and no immediate use for them, so I zested them (I used the microplane on half of them and then used a peeler on the other half to get strips of zest - I like having options) and popped the tray in the freezer and waited till everything was frozen before I bundled the zest up in the cling wrap and tucked the packets in a large freezer bag. Then I juiced all the lemons and froze the juice in ice cube trays that hold 1 ounce each (I have these and love them).

I also zest our oranges and tangerines before we eat them and at this point I am well stocked with zest from lemons, tangerines, pomelos, and a nice variety of different orange breeds.

We should be set on cocktail supplies for the foreseeable future, is my basic point.