Yes, it’s that time of year again. Citrus season is almost upon us. The arrival of the first blood oranges and bergamots is something I look forward to each winter as I hunt them down in food markets. But if you grow your own, suddenly the number of options available to you explodes, including all sorts of weird and wonderful varieties whose fruit is essentially “unbuyable” in Britain. If you are after a glossy-leaved, evergreen houseplant with pretty, scented flowers and the bonus of amazingly flavourful fruit to pique your culinary curiosity, then citrus are perfect for you.
Chinotto (Citrus aurantium var myrtifolia) is the key ingredient in the deep, dark, bittersweet soft drink of the same name found in upmarket Italian delis. This mutation of the bitter orange produces loads of small mandarin-sized fruit on compact plants with comparatively tiny leaves, perfect if space is at a premium. The fruit are, admittedly, intensely sour and bitter, which might not sound alluring, but for this very reason they are prized in Italy for adding a grown-up complexity to marmalades, cordials and liqueurs. In fact, the Italians often harvest them green to maximise their flavour intensity. For home growers I think picking sour over sweet varieties actually makes a lot of sense, as it means modest harvests of indoor citrus will go a long way when used as a flavouring rather than eaten on their own.
A classic example of this is my lifelong love of a proper key lime pie. But making it without key limes (a super fragrant, zesty fruit from a completely different species to the normal supermarket lime) produces a pale imitation of the real thing. Key lime pie without key limes just isn’t worthy of the name. Nurseries do tend to sell this plant under a variety of synonyms, including Mexican lime and Cuban lime, but the Latin name Citrus aurantiifolia is a dead giveaway.
Trendy Japanese yuzu seems to be cropping up as a flavour ingredient everywhere, from cocktails to exotic dipping sauces, yet buying the fresh fruit is still tricky in the UK. I find this strange as the mega-fragrant, lemon-meets-mandarin fruit are perhaps the easiest of all to grow, having impressive cold hardiness. Mine grow and fruit outdoors in Croydon year-round.
Finally, the kaffir lime is a must-have. Aside from its wonderful zest and juice, an essential ingredient in many Thai curries, they provide a year-round harvest of more aromatic leaves than you can ever use. Pop a couple in any southeast Asian dish to add authentic flavour at a fraction of the cost of supermarkets.
Can’t find them at your local garden centre? These comapnies sell them online: Lubera, Plants4presents, and Suttons.
