Seasonal Jewels
Dress up your dessert table and heighten the health benefits of any meal with the rich hues and tantalizing tastes of winter's best fruits.
By Deborah Madison
Photography By Mark Thomas
Photography By Mark Thomas
When it comes to fruit in the winter months, don't limit yourself to cellar stalwarts like apples and pears. To reap a bounty of nutrients wrapped in festive colors, look to luscious pomegranates, cranberries, star fruit, kiwis, and a rainbow of juicy citrus fruits. These jewels of winter are superb sources of vitamin C and other antioxidants, potassium, fiber--and great flavor!
So indulge your sweet tooth as you celebrate the natural wonders of the season. From a sweetly tart tangerine and blood orange pudding to a perfectly refreshing grapefruit sorbet spiked with champagne, these desserts will send your guests home healthy, happy, and downright dazzled.
How to Peel and Section Citrus Fruits
This method works for any citrus fruit, from a petite lime to a giant grapefruit. First, slice the polar ends so the fruit will stand steadily. Then, using a small, sharp knife, work in a zigzag motion from top to bottom to remove strips of peel, pith, and outer membrane to expose the pulp. (You'll have to angle your knife at the top and bottom.) Continue working your way around the fruit until it's entirely peeled.
Next, hold the peeled fruit firmly in your hand over a bowl. Notice the membranes that separate the sections; they look like white lines. Slide your knife flush against the membranes surrounding each section of fruit, working in a V pattern; when the cuts meet at the bottom of the V, the section will slide into the bowl. Repeat with the sections that are left. When you're done, squeeze any remaining juice into the bowl.
Peeling and Juicing Pomegranates
Bestowed with brilliant red juice and a propensity to squirt, a single errant pomegranate seed can easily ruin a favorite article of clothing. (Technically, the tiny red sac that holds a pomegranate seed is called an aril, but we'll say "seed" for short.)
Proceeding slowly to avoid squirting, score the pomegranate so it will easily break into quarters. Before you break it open to free the seeds, submerge the fruit in a sink or a bowl full of cool water (again, to minimize squirting). Bending the quarters backward, scrape or pull the seeds off the honeycomb of white membrane. Doing this under water will allow the pith to rise and the seeds to sink, making them easy to separate.
To juice a pomegranate, roll the entire fruit while leaning on it lightly to break up the seeds and release the juice. Carefully cut the fruit in two, then, working in a deep bowl, gingerly squeeze each half to extract the juice. You can also place chunks of pomegranate in an orange squeezer and release the juice that way, or you can press the halves against a wooden reamer. Strain the juice before using.
So indulge your sweet tooth as you celebrate the natural wonders of the season. From a sweetly tart tangerine and blood orange pudding to a perfectly refreshing grapefruit sorbet spiked with champagne, these desserts will send your guests home healthy, happy, and downright dazzled.
How to Peel and Section Citrus Fruits
This method works for any citrus fruit, from a petite lime to a giant grapefruit. First, slice the polar ends so the fruit will stand steadily. Then, using a small, sharp knife, work in a zigzag motion from top to bottom to remove strips of peel, pith, and outer membrane to expose the pulp. (You'll have to angle your knife at the top and bottom.) Continue working your way around the fruit until it's entirely peeled.
Next, hold the peeled fruit firmly in your hand over a bowl. Notice the membranes that separate the sections; they look like white lines. Slide your knife flush against the membranes surrounding each section of fruit, working in a V pattern; when the cuts meet at the bottom of the V, the section will slide into the bowl. Repeat with the sections that are left. When you're done, squeeze any remaining juice into the bowl.
Peeling and Juicing Pomegranates
Bestowed with brilliant red juice and a propensity to squirt, a single errant pomegranate seed can easily ruin a favorite article of clothing. (Technically, the tiny red sac that holds a pomegranate seed is called an aril, but we'll say "seed" for short.)
Proceeding slowly to avoid squirting, score the pomegranate so it will easily break into quarters. Before you break it open to free the seeds, submerge the fruit in a sink or a bowl full of cool water (again, to minimize squirting). Bending the quarters backward, scrape or pull the seeds off the honeycomb of white membrane. Doing this under water will allow the pith to rise and the seeds to sink, making them easy to separate.
To juice a pomegranate, roll the entire fruit while leaning on it lightly to break up the seeds and release the juice. Carefully cut the fruit in two, then, working in a deep bowl, gingerly squeeze each half to extract the juice. You can also place chunks of pomegranate in an orange squeezer and release the juice that way, or you can press the halves against a wooden reamer. Strain the juice before using.
