What to do with all that citrus growing in your Tucson yard

This time of year in Tucson gardens is special — we get to pick our citrus crop. Usually, however, this results in an abundance of riches. Whether you’ve planted grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, or kumquats, chances are you have more citrus than you can handle.

It’s not good to let your citrus fall to the ground, as then it soon becomes inedible. It doesn’t decompose well either, and can affect your soil quality. Citrus that’s left on the ground can also attract critters you probably don’t want too close to your house such as javelina and rodents.

Your lovely citrus doesn’t need to go to waste, however. There are two places in town to donate it, and there are also plenty of things you can do to preserve your citrus. Read on for some ideas.

Donating your citrus

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona accepts citrus donations. There are a number of places in town where you can drop it off; visit the Food Bank’s website for locations and other helpful information. There’s an upcoming donation drop off event Saturday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at two Fry’s locations: 4036 N. First Ave. and 10661 N. Oracle Road.

Iskashitaa Refugee Network offers harvesting of your citrus. The picking is done by members of Tucson’s refugee community and citrus is used for food. To request a harvest, visit their website.

Preserving your citrus

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There are a number of ways to make use of your citrus that don’t involve eating it raw. You can juice your citrus and freeze the juice. You can do the same with the rind: zest your citrus and freeze it for future use. Both the juice and zest are great ingredients in lots of foods and desserts.

Preserving citrus in salt is extremely easy. Just get some glass jars, salt and chop up your citrus. Put a layer of salt into your jar, then some citrus, shake it around, and repeat until your jar is full. Close your jar and set it in a cool place for a few weeks. The citrus will release some juices. This works great with lemons and oranges in particular, but you can also do this with limes. You can use salted citrus in a number of recipes. This article from Food In Jars has some great links to tons of recipes.

You can also make marmalades out of your citrus. The pectin in the fruit make it easy to preserve. Any type of citrus will work here. The only ingredients are water, sugar, citrus and a bit of time. Here’s a great recipe from the New York Times.

Other citrus options

You can also feed some of your citrus to birds and butterflies. You can leave out slices or halve the fruit. Orioles come through Tucson this time of year and absolutely love oranges.  The juicy fruits also attract butterflies. 

If all else fails, you can always bring your citrus to work. Especially in larger work areas, there will always be takers for the tasty fruit. It’s nice to let people know what type of citrus you’re bringing in; I usually also make sure it’s clear that people can take whatever they want.