Life doesn’t get much sweeter than an orange straight from the tree on a crisp winter morning. June is peak season for oranges, including navels and many other citrus varieties, and the best way to tell if they’re ready is to taste one. Skin colour can be deceptive, but flavour never lies. If the fruit is still a little tart, try again in another week or two.
Delicious ways to use oranges in the kitchen
A heavy crop of oranges opens the door to all sorts of kitchen adventures. Fresh juice is the obvious favourite, but oranges also shine in marmalades, citrus curd, cakes and zesty salad dressings. They freeze well too. Juice can be frozen in bottles and zest bagged and frozen for use throughout the year.
It’s also a great excuse to get the kids involved. Squeeze a big batch of juice together, or send them off with bags of fruit to share with neighbours. A generous citrus tree has a wonderful way of bringing people together.
Once harvest winds down, give your orange tree a tidy-up. Remove dead or damaged wood, shorten any overly long branches, feed with a quality citrus fertiliser and top up the sugar cane mulch. A little attention now will set the tree up beautifully for spring growth.
