HALLIE EPHRON: It’s February and the SUMO ORANGES are in! You’ve probably seen them in the market. They’re ugly, thick-skinned oranges with a wrinkly peel and an outie navel. Expensive! Go for one that feels dense and solid and heavy. They peel like a tangerine, are fabulously delicious, and worth every penny.
Generally this is the time of year to be eating citrus of any kind, even in New England where they’ve had to travel cross country to get here. The little tangerines are sweeter. Lemons tangy and juicier. Grapefruits which I’m not supposed to eat are sweet/tart and juicy.
Apples, on the other hand, are not having their best month. That’s because they’re coming out of cold storage or from halfway around the world. Tomatoes? The best that can be said of most tomatoes you can get now is that they’re red.
When cherries showed up the other week in my Stop n Shop, I knew better than to buy them. Or blueberries and strawberries that are now available year round but tasteless in the winter. Best to wait until summer when they’re in their season and don’t have to travel so far to get from the farm to your mouth.
Has anyone else out there been enjoying citrus? Sumos? And are there fruits you’re waiting for until they’re in season?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is so timely! I just got some watermelon, silly me, what was I thinking? And it was AWFUL. Got to wait for the season. And eating tomatoes in the winter is an exercise in imagination.
I have never tried sumos! I am a big grapefruit fan, and oranges, too, but I rarely eat them.
However! I have been happy with the ENVY apples! So that’s a good thing…
LUCY BURDETTE: Yes, we’re eating the little tangerines. I will look for the sumos.
Luckily for us, John’s been growing tomatoes on our balcony. They are not quite summer New England/New Jersey tomatoes, but light years better than grocery store’s. The only way I’ll eat those is roasted or drowned in chili crunch!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I am crazy for winter citrus! I stalk the store aisles in late November/early December, waiting for the first shipments to come in. Lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines! Mostly I’ve been eating Cara Cara oranges, and an easy peel tangerine every morning with breakfast, but I saw the Sumos in Trader Joe’s and will give them a try.
I don’t buy blueberries in the winter–ugh. If I must have berries for something, raspberries seem to be better. Alas, I am a tomato addict as well as a citrus addict, but I only buy grape and Campari tomatoes off-season, as they seem to taste more or less like tomatoes.
JENN McKINLAY: My lemon tree has gone bonkers - on deck for cooking I have candied lemon peel, limoncello, lemon curd, dehydrated lemon slices, and lemon pie. 
My friend just gave me a bag of oranges and the farmer’s market is jam packed with all the greens a rabbit could want. Oh, and my cherry tomatoes - so sweet they’re like candy.
I will not be fruit deprived until summer when we have to wait for northern states to share their bounty, although I am putting in multiple garden beds and hoping to get some watermelon and strawberries of my own!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Oh, Jenn, I'm so envious right now, but I know it's just a matter of timing.
Hallie, I just went to Market Basket yesterday and found some sumos in the markdown shelves for only $1.50 per pound! Of course, I'll have to eat them quickly, but that's not exactly a hardship. I also bought a bag of cara cara oranges, because I'm having citrus every night for dessert these days.
I'm a big believer in enjoying what's in season, so I'm cooking with root vegetables, spinach, Kale and cabbage. Fruit is pretty much limited to the great oranges we get shipped up here. (PS, the best apples this time of year are the hard, tart ones like Granny Smith and Cortland.)
Blueberries, strawberries, and cherries are the favorites here, but we always wait for them to be in season . . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of citrus, but I buy mandarins for my husband who LOVES them. For me, in the winter I eat bananas, golden kiwis, and pineapple. Not locally grown by any means. I also use frozen berries, quick thawed in my microwave for on my cereal or kept frozen and tossed into my mini blender for a smoothy.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I'm eagerly awaiting fresh berries coming in the spring and (my favorite) nectarines and peaches in the summer.
All of this discussion reminds me I need to buy some lettuce seed and plant it in my cold frame.
I only eat peaches when they are in season locally, and I mean really locally, right here in north Texas. But there's an orchard that plants several different varieties, so the season lasts from the beginning of June to around the first of August. The local blueberries don't last quite as long, sigh.
DeleteMy favorite fruits are strawberries and cherries and bananas. I eat the Cuties mandarins mostly for my citrus. Sumos and Cara Cara oranges are new to me so will have to look for them. I have a texture problem with berries with seeds and sometimes even kiwi. Need to check out the locally grown markets here on a more regular basis to figure out what to get when.
ReplyDeleteIs rhubarb a fruit? We left a big plant of that behind in Minnesota. But we have pineapples growing here after our successful harvest of our Maui Gold one in Minnesota. We rooted the top off that fruit plus a few pups from that plant. See if we can get any fruit a year or so from now.
I am jealous of that lemon tree, Jenn. I didn’t have room to bring the one I had in a pot in Minnesota. It had several lemons but they never turned yellow. I may have to give another one a go here in Florida.
Full disclosure: That lemon tree is one I scooped off the Internet. Shhh.
DeleteBeing that she's in Arizona, I wonder if Jenn's lemon tree is planted in the ground. Our nephew in Scottsdale has four different kinds of citrus in his yard, loaded down with grapefruits, oranges, lemons, and another type. Such riches! Just go outside and pluck a fresh, juicy orange for juice.
DeleteNo need to keep lemons in pots on the west coast. All citrus is planed in the ground for best results,
DeleteAs a child of southern California, we had a backyard of fruit trees: lemon, plum, white and yellow peach, apricot, guava, fig, plus a long row of boysenberries. I never bought a lemon until I moved away from California in my twenties. Now I have three thriving blueberry bushes and I can pick enough for all we want fresh plus about ten quarts to freeze.
ReplyDeleteThe little clementines have been yummy this year, and we've also been eating plenty of raspberries and blackberries. The Campari tomatoes have been fairly sweet, too. I've never had a Sumo orange! What I wait for and relish are local asparagus, strawberries, sugar-snap peas, and later uber-fresh sweet corn and my own tomatoes, plus lettuces from the high raised box. (I used to wait for local peaches, but can't eat them raw anymore, sniff...)
Spring is such a glorious tme for asparagus and such.
DeleteIt's "love the one you're with" around here. I buy oranges and other citrus fruit and they've been delicious. I've never had a sumo orange but will try some. I just bought some Pink Lady apples that were divine. Even in season, fruit can be disappointing. I confess that I buy berries out of season and bake with them. There is a blueberry coffee cake on the table now and it is delicious. I may make Lucy's strawberry cake with strawberry frosting for Valentine's Day and I bet there won't be any complaints.
ReplyDeleteBerries can be "rescued" with a sugar and a little shot of acid (lemon, lime, balsamic vinegar...).
DeleteI have also never seen or tried a Sumo orange.
ReplyDeleteI am drinking my warm morning mug of lemon water as I type this.
In winter, I buy clementines or oranges.
And I eat frozen berries or mango with my overnight oats.
Our growing season is short in Ontario so I have to wait June or July to buy local strawberries and Niagara region peaches.
I went to the grocery store this morning. No Sumo oranges.
DeleteI looked for them today in my grocery store, too. There was something that looked like Sumos but had a different name. The store was very busy because 10" of snow forecasted this weekend. Good for ski areas, so-so for old folks.
DeleteOn a trip to China I got hooked on fresh lychees. They have a really short season starting mid May.
ReplyDeleteI love grapefruit and oranges, but have never seen or heard of Sumo oranges. As for berries, we always have frozen wild blueberries for our oatmeal; raspberries are my favourite but I'll wait for them to be in season for fresh eating. Peaches in season from Ontario are a highlight of summer eating. Local asparagus in the spring: yum. As for tomatoes: Nothing beats a just-from-the-vine homegrown one but I'll need to wait until well into our Manitoba summer for that joy. We do love the burst of flavour from the ones we dry and use in winter cooking or on a pizza: that, too, is yum.
ReplyDeleteBananas, apples, and a pear for dessert every night. Waiting for asparagus and artichoke season.
ReplyDeleteI love citrus, but don't tend to buy it much. I'll look for sumo oranges--now I want to try them. I buy Cosmic Crisp apples, which still seem to be ok. Raspberries from Mexico are still delicious, so I really hope we don't engage in a trade war. I look forward to Oregon strawberries (especially the Hoods) and Maryhill peaches.
ReplyDeleteGillian, are Maryhill peaches grown at Maryhill, or is that a variety name?
DeleteI went to the museum with two friends years ago, and have always wanted to go back. Weird, quirky little place, but the Theatre de la Mode exhibits keep calling to me. I could see those over and over again, and the story is so compelling.
Yes, Maryhill Peaches are from there. The Columbia Gorge has many fruits developed and grown there. Bing Cherries are another fruit that was developed in the Hood River area.
DeleteThanks, Gretchen!
DeleteI've never seen or heard of sumos, but I will start looking for them right away.. This is the perfect time for citrus salad. I first had one in an Italian restaurant and have since picked up a few recipes: a few kinds of beautiful citrus, peeled with a knife and sliced into rounds. Something to contrast (honest, this is delicious ) like chopped olives or shallots or red onion. An oil and vinegar dressing, not too tart. Beautiful if arranged on a platter....but tasty any old way. (Hint- eat soon. Doesn't keep very well) Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTriss, I make a citrus salad with oranges and tomatoes. Use your favorite salad dressing and add the olives and onion if you like. I put avocado in mine, too. It is a stunner even if you are using hothouse tomatoes.
DeleteAdd blood orange as a visual contrast! Arranged on butter lettuce. Now I'm wishing we had all that here, Triss.
DeleteAmerica Test Kitchen has a recipe for endive salad with oranges and blue cheese that looked interesting.
DeleteSometimes I just cut up an orange or an apple or throw some grapes into any green salad. Fruits and veggies go well together.
DeleteJust recently I've heard several people say how much they detest fruit in green salads. Backlash from all those dried cranberries, maybe?
DeleteI scour the No Longer Best Before Aisle to see if there is any citrus half price. I wanted to make orange marmalade (really citrus marmalade) the other day. Unfortunately, in this area we rarely get Seville Oranges, but any orange will do. Grapefruits were $1.97 each! (I did buy two, as they add such flavour!) That day they had marked down the large boxes of oranges from $12 to $5, and they were really delicious! Some went in the marmalade, but the rest are a supper delight treat.
ReplyDeleteYou may (or may not) have seen that many Canadians are going Buy Canadian in response to the tariff threat. Since we mostly eat seasonal, I am rather ignoring that mostly. However, I was watching a ‘chef’ in a grocery store who was touring the aisles and then ‘cooking from what was Canadian’. Ok kudos to him for his scruples, BUT, how can you flavour without fresh lemons, especially if you are a chef. What about products that we just don’t grow in Canada – will you never eat another avocado (I wonder what their season is?), or even those lemons and limes? Lemon spritz anyone? Lemon curd? How will you make a fruit salad – a ubiquitous inclusion on breakfast tables lately whether in season or not, if there are no melons and grapes?
Meanwhile, as per usual, since it is winter, I will enjoy oranges, and carrots and cabbage, and frozen fruit from our garden that is in the freezer but probably avoid the strawberries and mangos from the grocery store. Don’t tell anyone that I ate those fresh cherries last week – they were ‘featured’. Hard as a rock, tasteless and Product of Chile. So were the peaches.
Oh Hallie, Sumos! I know the Concord Market ( in Concord, MA) has them and they’d be wonderful to eat while the next snow is falling! I love citrus in the winter, it promises summer! I don’t buy summer fruits in the winter. We always have frozen Maine blueberries in the freezer but for fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches I wait for them to be in all our local farm stands and farmers’ markets.
ReplyDeleteI agree that sumos are so good and worth the price. I haven't seen any but I'll keep looking. I remember in other years they might only be in the store for a week and when they are gone they are gone!
ReplyDeleteThe cortland apples (my favorites) are still available and very tasty. Yes, they have been in storage but not too far away, if that makes a difference. I will not buy any produce that has to be flown from half a world away.
I don't eat tomatoes in the winter - well, not unless I order a hamburger and it comes on, but then the flavor (or lack thereof) is so disguised in the ketchup, mustard and other things it doesn't matter. I stayed away from the watermelon at the salad bar the other night. Wisely, I thought.
ReplyDeleteThe Hubby used to eat mandarins every day, but he hasn't for a while. I think he started to be worried the acid would damage his teeth. But I do like the occasional red grapefruit.
The only berries I'm buying right now are frozen ones.
This is the summer of the garden project - clean out what's there, put in a greehouse, and replant. We'll see how it goes.
I don't think I've seen a sumo. Since we're in Key West the produce we're seeing at the Publix and at the local artisan market looks very fresh. Downside is yesterday we bought a little "crate" of cherry tomatoes and two yellow peppers at the Artisan Market--$10.00!
ReplyDeleteSumo oranges are new to me, too. I'll watch for them and give them a try.
ReplyDeleteIn general I just eat whatever fruit is affordable, which usually more or less equates to what's in season. The one season I always watch is cherries. They begin to appear in the grocery store in late spring with high prices, but then there's usually a window of four to six weeks where the price and quality are both great. I don't cook with them, I just devour them straight from the bag, and relish every minute.
As far as possible, seasonal produce is the way to go, second best is fresh frozen. It took at least 20 years, but I finally got my husband to stop buying those pallid, rockhard tomatoes with no flavor in the winter. They taste like water. Unless you get the expensive ones that were grown hydroponically. The technology developed for the Biosphere has made them so much better.
ReplyDeleteCasey Daniels has a nifty little hydroponic automated garden, and I was fortunate to snag one for myself to grow lettuces and herbs all year. I'll let you know how it goes. In a week, four of the pods have sprouted and are zooming up to the lights.
I've seen Sumo oranges, but have never tried one. Time to do that, thanks!
Jenn, I have big-time lemon tree envy, and fantasies of my one-year old Meyer lemon producing enough for some of the delights you list. (Lemon curd is the food of the gods! And that's me, cheating on dark chocolate.) My little tree is currently LOADED with blossoms. I'll be using (Judi's?) trick of pollinating with a cotton swab, so fingers crossed.
I have always waited for cherries but even when they are in season they are pricey. They are my once a year treat.
ReplyDeleteComing over to your house for some lemons, Jenn. Just kidding. Always looking for oranges to buy at the grocery shop. And apples.
ReplyDeleteAlways buy frozen fruit from the shop. We buy whatever fruit is in season. And we wait for the Dry Farmed Tomatoes to come in season because they are favorites. Yummy!
I just got sumos for the first time and they were delicious! I’ll have to reload this week. Citrus is one of the tastes I did not lose after COVID.
ReplyDeleteI’ve also been enjoying the Envy apples. I was always a Granny Smith girl, but they don’t seem as good anymore.
In summer I crave sweet corn and tomatoes. They don’t seem to taste as good here as they did growing up in Indiana.
Every day I eat bananas, blueberries, apples, and tangerines. When they’re in season I buy strawberries. I need my daily apple (honeycrisp) and feel lost if I run out! read a nutrition article that said even though blueberries don’t taste well in their off season, all the nutrients are still there. Right now I have frozen blueberries that I’m not touching unless the fresh ones get totally mushy and tasteless. I don’t really like frozen fruits but if that’s all that’s available I’ll settle for them.
ReplyDeleteI’ll get watermelon in the summer, and maybe some other melons. When cherries are on sale I usually buy them.
DebRo
I sent my husband to work today with a Sumo orange! He likes them because they’re so easy to peel (and they’re delicious). I noticed when I was putting away my groceries a couple of days ago that I have bought a lot of citrus fruit. I usually but lots of apples, but they haven’t tasted as good lately (duh) and the bananas I buy seem to end up in banana bread because we don’t eat them “in time”. Even living in Southern California, we still have to wait for in season fruits to be, well, in season! — Pat S
ReplyDeleteWe are trying our luck with a Meyer lemon. Of course we have to bring it inside for the winter. It has produced one lemon but we think we left it on the tree too long as it was too sour and bitter to eat. It's now flowering like crazy here in my sunporch so we'll see if this year is better!
ReplyDeleteOnly buy fruit in season. At other times you pay more and most of the produce is imported from other countries, is more expensive and has no flavor.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite fruits are cherries, grapes, apricots and peaches, but here, in MA, most fresh fruit doesn’t arrive until late spring or summer. It seems that even in season US grown grapes and cherries in particular have cost more the past few years probably because of shipping long distances. Most blueberries come from either North Carolina or New Jersey.
I started buying mandarins this year and they have been very good. The problem is they come in bags
of one lb or more and it’s hard for one person to consume that much before the fruit starts to spoil.
I have seen the sumos in both Trader Joes and Stop and Shop but haven’t tried them.
If I really want tomatoes In the winter, I sometimes buy the Campari variety which come from California.
I’ve noticed that Trader Joes has several varieties of grapes from Peru, a friend told me they are very good, but I haven’t tried them.
Trader Joe’s imports a lot of products from both Mexico and Canada. We will see how that goes…
Some fruits such as blueberries freeze well if you want to use them in cooking.
As I am still fighting against this pneumonia, I now have the urge to eat more fruit. Actually, I had already started eating the "Cuties," the small oranges, and they are yummy. The honey crisp apple I had yesterday was not as good as I'd expected, and the poor strawberries. Well, I did buy some week before last, and Philip and I agreed not to get any more of those right away.
ReplyDeleteThe tomato is what I gobble up in the the summer months, trying to get as many wonderfully fresh treats of those as I can. BLT season is in when you have those delicious tomatoes right off the vine.
I've never seen a sumo orange, nor a cara cara one. But I'm very happy with the clementines that we eat from December through March. I think they are a hybrid cross between mandarins and "regular" oranges, and they're very popular in Switzerland. I also tend to eat whatever fruits and veggies are in season, but I break down now and then to buy an expensive, out-of-season treat. Like blueberries!
ReplyDeleteOh, it all looks divine - Never heard of sumo oranges, but will be on the lookout for them. Having lived a good part of my life in Florida, I'm citrus picky, and old enough tor remember when all the citrus in local groceries were marked with grease pencil xes. Why? Either they weren't pretty enough to ship out, or they were ripened on the tree and couldn't be shipped out. In both cases, they were yum.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to eat only in local season produce. Always seems to taste best.
Just saw sumo oranges today at the market
ReplyDeleteJust came back from Trader Joe’s. Since so many people seemed to like the Sumos, I was going to try one, but when I saw the price was over two dollars for one I decided to stick with the one lb bag of mandarins which was cheaper. A bag of Sumos was over five dollars-a sumo price. I’ll just go by everyone else who has had and enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteHank turned me on to Envy apples last fall. I replenished my supply (3.5#s) at Whole Foods (Dedham, MA) on Wednesday, but they are smaller, but still good. What I focused on this shop was for naval oranges as the ones at our local grocery stores are tiny. I bought 5 pounds of Organic Cara Cara red oranges. I just devoured one for my mid-afternoon snack and it was fabulous. I also bought 3#s of organic Naval oranges that are the nice big ones that I am sure are great. For a splurge, I bought some organic red seedless grapes (1.25#s) from Peru (opposite season as us) that are very tasty. Like many food manufacturers are realizing, many of us prefer a good piece of plain organic fruit to a piece of cake or a cookie! (I also bought organic: bananas, lemons, carrots, pineapple and celery.)
ReplyDeleteI will look for the Sumos on my next trip!
DeleteIf you store citrus in a jar of water in the fridge, they will last for months. FYI!
ReplyDeleteNow that's an excellent tip, Jenn. Thanks!
DeleteSomeone once gave me a dozen Meyer lemons. I juiced them all, then froze the juice in ice cube trays. Once it was solid I popped them out and stored them in freezer bags. They kept a long time, as long as I kept as much air out of the bag as I could.
Love Sumos! At my local Whole Foods, they're now calling them something else - encopy? No, but something like - and I can't help but wonder if they're afraid of being denounced for cultural appropriation even though the stickers on the fruits themselves clearly say "Sumo." Go figure!
ReplyDelete