A Guide to Exotic Citrus, Plus Blood Orange Punch

Now that we’ve done our best to establish your right to purchase citrus from California with a clean conscience, we can now return to our original task of selling you on the incredible wintertime citrus that is available right now. Here's a list of our favorites.

• Meyer Lemons: enough said.
• Blood Oranges: Originally from Sicily. Sweet and delicious with a slight raspberry flavor, plus their bright red color is reason enough to buy them, as it is a color that will not naturally occur in Seattle until June.
• Honey Tangerines/Minneolas: Both extremely juicy and extra sweet. Honey Tangerines have a lot of seeds, so we often buy these just to juice them or to make sorbet. Minneolas, a grapefruit/tangerine hybrid are seedless and easier to eat.
• Cara Cara Oranges: Like a regular orange, but salmon-color. This might not seem remarkable until you cut into one and find yourself staring at it for the better part of an hour.
• Heirloom Navel Oranges: A particularly sweet and balanced version of your usual navel. We love this orange; also, it makes delicious marmalade.

Increasingly, these varieties are available at your regular grocery store, but in case you’re having trouble, never fear, Seattle is rife with good citrus shopping options. Frank's Produce in the Pike Place Market has a great selection, Trader Joe's usually sells packages of Meyer Lemons for a comparative bargain, and Uwajimaya is definitely reliable in the exotic citrus department. If you're feeling adventurous, you can also order directly from Ripe to You, a producer in California that is happy to ship you boxes of gorgeous fruit. Ripe to You has plentiful offerings, some of which we’ve yet to try (Eustis Limequat? Etrog Citron? Clemenvilla?), so let us know if you do.

Below is our recipe for Blood Orange Punch. It’s festive and delicious and, as it is still dark and cold and rainy here in Seattle, should be made immediately. Enjoy.