Eye candy

I got up this morning and did some prep work: putting away the caramels and the toffee, and laying out the candied citrus peels for later dipping. Here are the results of my labors:

For those who aren’t familiar with exotic citrus, Meyer lemons are a cross between an orange and a lemon. Unlike Eureka lemons (the standard supermarket kind), they aren’t just tart – they also have a wonderful fruitiness that is also present in the rind. Bergamot looks like a large but pale orange, and has a highly aromatic rind that is used to flavor Earl Grey tea. And yuzu are a Japanese citrus, the size of a mandarin orange, but with a yellow rind – and have a wonderful floral fragrance in addition to the usual citrus. I think it’s a relative of the lemon, but not sure.

While talking about exotic citrus, I just had to share my favorite, the Buddha’s Hand. It’s the most unusual citrus I’ve ever seen – I describe it as “a cross between a grapefruit and a squid”. Here’s why:

And a side view:

I adore them. They have a wonderful citron fragrance (because that’s what they are) and make an unusual centerpiece. I don’t candy the peel because the “fingers” are irregular in size, making the Etrog citron easier to deal with, but I love the way it looks.

Speaking of citrons, here’s an Etrog citron:

Those, believe it or not, are on the small side for Etrog citrons. They’re the biggest citrus I know of, generally the size of a football, and have a wonderful light citrusy fragrance. For some reason they’re traditional at one of the Jewish holidays, but I forget which. Not in season right now (it’s an old photo), but I’ll be buying and candying some in December. Yum!

Off to work. There is a ton of chocolate stuff to play with today!