The Many Blessings of Dried Tangerines
January 29th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas
Tangerine salt is one of my true standbys; it has earned a permanent place on my shelf next to the stove, where I place things I use on a daily or near-daily basis. I make tangerine salt in small quantities, using one dried wheel and roughly two tablespoons of sel gris. I first put the wheel into my coffee grinder, grind it to a fine powder, then add the salt, and pulse it a few times to combine. The salt is a wonder; it turns a lovely shade of yellow-orange, smells fresh and toasty citrusy, and, siren-like, beckons me to use it every time I go near it.
Trader Joe’s used to carry acceptable dried tangerines, but, like many great products there, they have disappeared. But dried tangerines are dead simple to make at home: preheat the oven to 200, slice your favorite tangerine (the one in the photo is a Minneola, one of my faves) thinly into wheels, and place on a cookie sheet (outfitted with a Silpat if you like) for roughly two hours, or until they start to really dry out, brown a bit, and finally toast up. They then live in a jar, ready for me whenever I need them, which is often.The quantity in the photo is a single Minneola, and will last me a while, more than likely a month or two.
I’m also fond of using tangerine dust, i.e. pulverized dried tangerine into a fine powder. You can add it to crusts (breadcrumbs, lentils, rice, etc.) to give them color and citrusy zip. You can sprinkle a little on a salad for extra prettiness and vibrant flavor, you can just munch on them like potato chips — amazing with a glass of chilled sake and some edamame.
OK breakaway cooks, let put our collective wisdom to work here: what else can you imagine with them? Do try making them, and be sure to put them in a handsome jar that visible when you cook, so that they can constantly remind you of their wondrous presence.
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26 Responses to “The Many Blessings of Dried Tangerines”
By
Christopher DeWinter on Jan 29, 2009
The salt ‘additions’ you mention seem like ideal choices, but are they better because they tend to stay ‘fresh’ longer? Or is it because they are dry to begin with?
Do these salts spoil? Should they always be made fresh?
Wondering about Lemongrass as a salt ingredient.
By
Eric on Jan 29, 2009
Sorry Christopher, I don’t really understand your question. By “additions” do you mean the flavoring ingredients for flavored salts? The flavoring ingredients must be dry — they don’t work otherwise. The salt itself (sel gris) has a high moisture content, which makes it an ideal salt for blending with flavoring ingredients, because it holds together better than a superdry salt like kosher.
No, the salts never spoil. They do, however, lose their flavor impact over time. It’s best to make them in very small amounts, and use them up relatively quickly, say within a month.
Lemongrass would be a kickass salt, if you mince it, and then dry it.
By
Ed Ward on Jan 30, 2009
I’m wondering how you get those nice thin slices. By hand?
By
Divina on Jan 30, 2009
I guess a little bit goes a long way and with the intense flavor from the dried tangerines, it brightens up the flavor of the dish and wakes up your palate.
By
Jess on Jan 30, 2009
Wouldn’t the tangerine salt be fabulous for rimming a glass for a margarita, tequila sunrise, or a blood orange mimosa or something?
By
Eric on Jan 30, 2009
Ed — sliced by hand. Got a new knife recently (Shun), so I feel like making a Ginsu infomercial. It’s actually pretty easy to slice raw oranges thinly; try it.
Divina, the flavor is indeed intense, but not crazily so. And of course with time, it diminishes somewhat as it gets exposed to air.
Jess’s idea for rimming a glass with tangerine salt is brilliant! I wish I made cocktails!
By
helen on Jan 30, 2009
What a lovely photo! I think the salt should go well with scallops, properly seared, served with a fennel and orange slaw…, so hungry…
By
Stuart on Jan 30, 2009
Which Shun did you get? (love mine!)
By
ellen on Jan 30, 2009
thanks for the noodge. I’ve got a couple of pans in the oven right now. I used a serrated bread knife, which worked just fine.
By
Kate on Jan 30, 2009
Hello Eric: this is my first visit to your blog and I am inspired (I found it through ). Thank you.
I do wonder how you clean out your coffee grinders after grinding spices, etc., in them. I have used coffee grinders in the past to grind spices and some spices left an oil/residue in the grinder (I’m thinking of cloves here) that flavored all grinds thereafter. I apologize if you have already covered this.
Any suggestions?
Kate
By
Eric on Jan 30, 2009
Got the classic 7 inch santoku. Great, great knife. Have also been using the paring knife for a while — surreally great.
Kate: Welcome! Cleaning the grinder: I know it’s kind of heresy, but I rarely bother cleaning it, at least properly. I make something in it, and take a quarter of a paper towel and just wipe it out. Oftentimes I don’t even bother doing that; if I’m grinding coriander seeds, for example, how bad could it be for a few coriander strands to remain while I make tangerine salt? Sometimes you grind powerful things like cardamom or cloves, true, and one must clean it somewhat more rigorously afterward (you can take a soapy sponge and hot water and go nuts; I do this when it gets a little too funky, even for me). But generally speaking, a quick wipe with the piece of paper towel is more than sufficient, at least for my purposes.
By
Stuart on Jan 31, 2009
To clean a grinder after using stronger spices, take some torn, but large pieces of bread and grind it up, then wipe out the container with a paper towel as Eric said. The bread will absorb up the majority of oil residue. (Hey, an actual good use for white bread! I knew there had to be one…)
By
Eric on Jan 31, 2009
Indeed — can also use raw rice for this. But be sure to use the flavored rice or bread as a crust! :^)
By
Stuart on Jan 31, 2009
Breakaway Cleaning!
By
Scott on Jan 31, 2009
The glass-rimming salt does not just have to be for cocktails. Lemon salt on the rim of a glass of tomato juice. Tangerine salt on a glass of carrot juice. It just needs to be something which is compatible with salt.
> The flavoring ingredients must be dry…
Some fresh herbs and such also work as long as they are not juicy. For example, lavender, sage, and rosemary (from fresh) work fine. The very high salt concentration will keep just about anything from growing.
By
Carolyn Jung on Feb 1, 2009
Besides baking, I’d guess they’d be great in stir-fry with chicken or beef. Forget the gloppy, greasy tangerine beef in Chinese take-out. Make your own with your own dried citrus for a new, improved version.
By
brilynn on Feb 3, 2009
I love this! I’m definitely giving it a try.
By
Merry on Feb 3, 2009
I never thought of that before (with tangerine or anything else) I really must give it a try.
By
Joanne on Feb 4, 2009
Hey! I just had this an appetizer of vanilla cured salmon with pickled celery, orange salt and kaffir lime leaf. Is tang salt a new trend?
By
lori on Feb 8, 2009
Thank you, thank you for posting how you make this I have been dying to try this ever since I got your book last year, which I love!
Thanks for being an inspiration in the kitchen!
By
Eric on Feb 9, 2009
Thanks Lori, your mosaics are beautiful!
By
Kitchen Butterfly on Mar 9, 2010
For me, I'll use the dust to make some salted caramels….; mix it with dried chillies to make some citrus salt/pepper mix, give some away as a gift, put some in my tea……, bake with it, mix it with sugar for sweet and savoury toppings…..I could go on……….! Anyhow, my dried discs went soft when I put them in a jar!!!!! I plan on re drying them soon!