Massive Citrus Haul...need ideas!

[jeanettecentaur]

Hi, y'all!

 

Due to high winds in my neck of the woods we have a large citrus harvest to process. Right now I have a double batch of Ruby Red Marmalade in progress...a Gallon of Ruby Red juice to can, Orange/Ruby Red juice in the fridge, and fruit set aside for 2 more batches of Ruby Red Marmalade plus 4 batchesCranberry/Orange/Ruby Red marmalade later in the week. We have reserved the zest for the dehydrator. My problem is that I have a large number of Meyer Lemons and limes to process, as well and I can't seem to find a nice tried and true method of canning lemonaide or many recipes that call for more than a couple of lemons/limes.

 

Should I just juice and freeze it after zesting?

 

Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks in advance...

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qw91doj5sc81s1/CitrusBounty2014.jpg

[The WE2's]

I have ALOT of lemons, limes and oranges that I've sliced & dehydrated and vacuum sealed in half gallon canning jars. Our friends love it when I break open a jar and put some in baggies for them :-) Just drop one or two slices into some ice cold water and you've got a wonderful citrus drink that's healthy for you. You can also drop a slice into a cup of hot tea. Dehydrate...dehydrate...and then vacuum seal them :-) If you don't have the cannister lid adapters for your vacuum seal machine you'll want to own them, one is for regular jars and one is for wide-mouth jars. Just put your dried produce inside, place the lid (not the ring) on the jar, place the cannister lid on top, attach the hose, and press the button. It will stop with the jar is sealed. Put the ring on & put it on a shelf. I check my jars every month. I've got some that are 3 years old and they're still sealed.

[WormGuy]

How about squeeze and freeze the juice?

 

 

 

John

[jeanettecentaur]

Thanks, Philbe! Yes, we have the regular mouth and wide mouth vacuum attachments for our Foodsaver. The foodsaver lives on our countertop because we use it all week long! DH wants to dehydrate a portion of the Lemons, limes, and Oranges like you said. The rest we are going to zest and juice, then portion out into Icecube trays for convenience.

 

It's funny, because we could pretty much keep our dehydrator running 24/7. Today we dehydrated 10 trays of zucchini chips with Pink Himalayan salt into paper thin, crunchy deliciousness! Right now we have orange zest, more zucchini chips, and 7 trays of mixed peas/corn/carrots/lima beans going.

 

Thanks again!

[jeanettecentaur]

Thanks, Wormguy! Yes, I think most will be juicing/zesting/freezing..

[Mt_Rider]

I gotta remember to try dehydrating lemons when they hit a sale. Sounds ....tangy!

 

MtRider

[ArmyOfFive4God]

This is how I deal with whole lemons & limes. I was planning on ordering a BUNCH of oranges & doing the same (I've recently fallen in love with this recipe - sans the grape molasses), but the drop is an hour away. For some reason, neither of our drops came into Ktown this go round.

[jeanettecentaur]

This is how I deal with whole lemons & limes. I was planning on ordering a BUNCH of oranges & doing the same (I've recently fallen in love with this recipe - sans the grape molasses), but the drop is an hour away. For some reason, neither of our drops came into Ktown this go round.

This is PERFECT!!! Thanks!

 

Here is what we have done so far for the week:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdqd3ck1e1ikxic/OrangeZest.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6dfw4zfs1iiy0z6/RubyRedJuice.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9e4pmkf12rtcnwp/MixedVegOrangeZest.jpg

 

And my absolute favorite toil and trouble goes to:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/do1pmyy61kbpxk0/RubyRedMarmalade.jpg

[Jeepers]

Jeanette...

 

Love your pictures!