Citrus byproduct ideas PLEASE!!!

[JbJg]

Hi - new to this forum and desperate for some advice. We have a smallholding of about 4.5 hectares with 4 young cows, 11 sheep, 105 chickens and 30 pigs. We have just managed to secure the contract to remove all fruit and veg from a local greengrocer as long as its on a daily basis and we take everything...including the citrus. The pigs don't like the citrus and the wormfarm won't either. Any byproduct/processing ideas that won't break the bank and might be of use in another form?

 

[big brown horse]

Sorry I can't help ya, but I'm sure someone here could. (My first thought is a sanctuary for monkeys?)

Anyhoo, WELCOME to SS!!!!

Good luck!

 

[me&thegals]

Wow! What a lovely problem! Could you juice it? Compost it? How much are we talking here?

 

[punkin]

Congrats on the contract! That should help supplement feeding quite well.

BBH gave me an idea - are there in zoos in your area that would take the citrus? Or a bird sanctuary?

Do you like orange juice? I guess you could squeeze it and freeze it.

BTW,

 

[JbJg]

Thanks for the welcome! Well, there is on average about 500-1000kg depending on time of year. At the moment we are in full citrus season and therefore about 2/3 to half of the delivery is oranges and naartjies. Most of it is the peels and pulp as they have a juicing section at the store and the rest is whole but damaged ie: breaks in the peel etc. I am googling myself into a corner here...everything from biofuel to firelighters..all from citrus. Unfortunately it looks like most byproducts require costly processing procedures. We don't necessarily want to make money from it, just put it to good use really. Any ideas on giving it to cows and sheep?

 

[keljonma]

What a wonderful contract you have there!

If you like to eat citrus, lemons and other citrus fruits can be stored much like apples, or you can keep them in boxes of sand. Put layers of unblemished fruits into wooden crates or paper-lined boxes, and cover each layer with dry sand. The fruit will keep for up to two months in this way.

You can make your own "bottled" lemon juice. To can the juice, heat the strained juice to 165F; do not boil. Then ladle it into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Process the pints or quarts for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

I am not sure if you can do the same for oranges or grapefruits for juice.


You can dehydrate citrus - remove the peel and pith first, then slice them crosswise, remove any seeds, then dehydrate. Rehydrate with water or juice and use in beverages.


You can make canned lemon or orange curd or fruity sorbets.


ETA: To preserve citrus peels as peels or as zest:
Wash well, scrape out white bitter pith. Let completely dry. The peel should be crisp.

To make zest, lightly grate the peel, lay the zest on cheesecloth in a dehydrator per manufacturer's instructions. You could oven dry the zest at 145F, with the oven door open a bit. Turn the trays if you see one side is drying faster than another. Zest should be dry within 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.

1 orange yields about 2 tsp dried zest and 1 lemon yields about 1 tsp zest.


Also this recipe was posted by patandchickens for Candied Citrus Peel

Candied Orange (or other citrus) Peel

6 oranges, preferably organic
1/2 c sugar plus more for dredging in

Peel the orange in strips roughly 1 - 1 1/2" wide (you will be cutting them up further later on). Eat the orange, or whatever you want do with it -- you are only going to use the peel.

Cover the peel with water, bring to boil, simmer 5 minutes, drain.
Repeat 2-3 more times. This removes bitterness and softens the peel somewhat.

Cut peel into 1/4 - 1/2" wide strips.

Combine cut up peel, 1/4 c water and the 1/2 c sugar. Boil till liquid is pretty well absorbed and peels are tender, about 15 minutes.

Put them by twos and threes, or sparse handfuls, into a bowl of more sugar (shaking off any excess liquid first) and move them around so they get well coated with sugar.

Dry on rack overnight or longer depending on your humidity.

Store in airtight container once well dry -- mine usually keep well for 3 wks or so, after that they start to dry out and lose some flavor and become better for use in baking than for eating out of hand.

Also good with any other citrus peel - I especially like grapefruit and pommelo. Lime and Clementine are good but somewhat unrewardingly thin, for my tastes. You can make several types at once, just boil/simmer each type separately so as not to mix the flavors.

(note: I have seen simpler, two-step recipes for candied orange peel, but never tried them. They may work just as well, I dont know. I've used a longer one, involving the parboiled peel sitting in sugar syrup overnight, and it wasn't any better than this recipe, for what its worth) -patandchickens

edited for typos...

 

[Beekissed]

Ferment it!!!! I'll have to wait until I get home to my pc but I have an article saved somewhere about fermenting left over fruits to make different kinds of nutritional additives for livestock feeds. Fermenting it turns it into usable sugars, sort of like sileage. I'll try to find that later.........

 

[JbJg]

What an awesome reply. Thanks Keljonma. x

 

[JbJg]

Bekissed...Please don't forget 'cause that sounds like a promising alternative!

 

[keljonma]

Any ideas on giving it to cows and sheep?

I found this article.... which suggests how to feed to cows and sheep

http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/X6512E/X6512E08.htm