Fresh Finds: Ugli Fruit and Other Citrus

Over the summer, while going to Eastern Market with Jason to get our weekly produce, I started a tradition of picking up a new fruit or veggie every week.  I especially love fruits of many varieties, but there are still many that I have not tried, especially ones that I have only started to see recently from the vendors at the Market who specialize in ethnic and unusual produce.  I have tried quite a few that I liked, such as starfruit and persimmions, and a few that I wasn't quite sure about, like dragonfruit and prickly pear.  Now, when I am shopping, I keep my eyes peeled for unusual fruits and I try to pick them up when possible.  It's a little harder in the winter, though, as there just aren't as many fruits in season.  Recently, I tried a few citrus delights that I wanted to blog about.  One of them is the Ugli fruit.

This Ugli fruit was about the size of a grapefruit, but with a bright green peel, not unlike that of a lime.  I thought it might be very sour like a lime or bitter like a grapefruit, but I found it to be pretty much like a standard orange.  The peel was very thick and hearty and had a lot of pith, but the fruit itself was quite soft.  I had a hard time cutting it into bite sized chunks for our morning fruit salad (with a apple and a few dried strawberries).  As I cut into the flesh, it mostly just turned to mush.  It would probably be great to juice, but I think they are a little expensive for that.  I think the novelty of the green peel was fun, though, and it inspired me to consider trying the next new thing I tried... candied orange peel!

One of my friends bought a small tub of candied orange peel to go with a lovely gourmet cheese plate we made with our foodie friends.  Actually, I have had candied orange peel before, but technically, I think this was glacé peel, which is perhaps a little different. I have had candied peels in baked goods and in chocolates and candies, but it was a delicious candy all by itself.  Now I really want to make candied peels... maybe try some lemon, maybe some ugli fruit peel, maybe grapefruit.  We have made candied ginger at the house before and it's pretty easy to do, just a bit time consuming.  I think the peels would be great in muffins, as a little chewy texture here and there.

Finally, my last new citris find was Kumquat, which I tried for the first time last weekend!  Another friend made a yummy vinaigrette salad dressing with them, but I tried a few of them before he smooshed them all up.  They were so good! Small, grape sized yellow/orange colored fruits... sweet citrus flavor on the outside and sour on the inside.  I loved that you eat the whole fruit, peel and all. Very delicious. Now that I know how much I like them, I am going to look for them at the market, although I think they are not very common.

Those are my Vitamin C filled fresh finds this week!  Yum!