14 hours ago, bokreta said:This is slightly off topic, as it's not about a holiday menu, but it is Christmas and food related.
I'm planning on a smallish tree decorated primarily with dehydrated pretty slices of lemons, limes, kumquats, blood oranges, and tomatoes (and popcorn garlands). My question is what else can I do with the butt ends of the citrus fruits beyond stashing them in vodka for a spell? Tomato ends will go into a salsa, and assuming that I buy (small) bags of citrus any non-decorative slices with be salt preserved, but what about the pithy end pieces?
@Smithy's right, you can make candied citrus peel from those butt ends. I've used David Lebovitz recipes for candied grapefruit peel and candied orange peel. I used the orange recipe for lemons, too.
Alternatively, you can strip off just the zest (no pith, use a vegetable peeler) from those ends before you slice them. Slice them thinly and cook in syrup. Some recipes blanch them first, though they are less bitter than the whole peels as used above.
Edited to add: here's a link to an Instant Pot method that I've used with lemon and limes
