When we moved into our new house, I was really excited that we had healthy citrus trees. I had spent enough time here in the past several years to know that backyard citrus was the real deal, and my dad has always told me stories of snacking from the trees on his walks home growing up. I’ve been diving deep into what grows in our backyard, and I’ve learned more than I ever expected about oranges and how to manage the unique juice in drinks.
Arizona Citrus in General
Basically, there’s a lot of it. The main takeaway of all my research is that an “orange” doesn’t really exist biologically. Any time we talk about oranges we’re talking about hybrids, and they’re often very different from each other (even if they don’t look too different). Here’s a good roundup of a lot of what grows “wild” and is readily available. Citric acid, sugar, pith depth, and overall oil content all differ and all of those matter greatly when you’re working them into a drink.
When I wrote about citrus last year I focused on what’s marketed in stores, but there’s even more subtle variation that I really didn’t understand at the time. But when I compared the fruit from my in-laws’ yard to my own, I knew I was missing something. There are a lot more than I thought…
What’s in My Yard?
In short, I grow bitter oranges. No one really knows exactly what that is, but they grew like weeds in Seville, Spain and that’s how they’re more popularly referred to. They’re most popular in a marmalade because they’re so sour, but hey – this is a cocktail blog. Even though it’s intensely sour and bitter, there’s a lot of good orange flavor hiding behind that.
My in-laws grow a type of tangelo. Tangelo, like orange more generally, is more of a category than a specific fruit and refers to all possible crosses of a pomelo and tangerine (or grapefruit – this category makes no sense…). In flavor profile, they’re usually similar to a mandarin. These specifically have a bit of salinity and acid, but overall they’re extremely sweet. I don’t taste nearly as much stereotypical orange here as I do in the bitter oranges from my yard.
Drink the Yard
If you’ve followed my Instagram you’ve seen all of these already, but I’m going to summarize everything I made with the juices from the most recent harvest below as well. For all of these, I broiled the fruit for a few minutes before juicing to concentrate the sugars, and I mixed half-and-half between the bitter oranges and the tangelos. I’ve got more oranges than I can possible use, though, so I’m sure this will be a mainstay ingredient in my winter cocktails going forward.
Citrus Spritz (NA)
This is as simple as it gets. It’s 1 ounce of juice to 4 ounces of high-carbonation soda with just a bit of simple syrup. If you’re looking to make a drink but can’t justify booze yet, make one of these – the juice is intense and stiff and this drinks much more complex than it actually is.
Fresh Marg
This is essentially a margarita with Herradura reposado, citrus juice, and a little bit of Grand Marnier.
I added all of this to a shaker, gave it some serious shaking, and poured it over ice in a glass with a salted rim.
- 8 parts tequila
- 4 parts citrus juice
- 1 part Grand Marnier
- 1 part light syrup (2-1 water/sugar boil)
The salt here really does help – I always like salted rims, but with the sour notes here the salt helps amplify the rest of the drink in each sip.
Arizona Sour
This might be the best drink I’ve made in quite some time, and it’s a perfect ending to this month-long deep-dive. Here’s the recipe:
- 8 parts Madeira-finished Sacred Stave Rye
- 3 parts citrus juice
- 1 part simple syrup
- 3 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 dash chocolate bitters from Ms Betters Bitters
I made sure the juice was well-strained to start and then just prepped the drink with ice in a mixing glass and served it neat. The bitters really help balance the citrus intensity here and let the rye flavors come through. This is a well-balanced showcase of sour, sweet, and spicy that I plan on making a lot of.
The real star here is the whiskey, though. I got it as a Christmas gift and it’s really something else. It’s a good spicy rye, and the cask finish doesn’t really mellow it like you often see; it just adds depth. I’m anxious to try more of what SanTan is putting out – grows together, goes together is almost always true!
Other Things to Do with “Backyard Citrus”
I feel like I’ll end up making marmalade at some point. And it’s always good in salad dressings! I’m working on replacing any citrus recipe with what I’m growing and then finding a way to modify it for the different profile, and for the most part that’s been successful so far! Unfortunately, it hasn’t made much of a dent in inventory…