Look Past the Peel!

  The citrus trees in the back yard are doing quite well this year.  Each tree is loaded with fruit to the point that we had to prop up the limbs lest they break.  Now that is time for the fruit to start ripening, a dreadful thing is occurring!  Just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of the satsumas were turning dark.  On one tree, the outer peels of the fruit were browning quickly and turning rather rigid.  A bit of research by a visiting cousin revealed that my citrus trees were infected by a mite!  A tiny critter, that could not be seen without the aid of a magnifying glass, was sucking all of the moisture from the peels and leaving behind an unsightly mess.  The remedy was to spray the trees with an horticultural oil spray.  No problem there since I make my own safe version of this to use on the peach trees.  It was the loss of all that fruit that bothered me. Then my cousin read further and discovered that, even though the fruit was about as ugly as can be, it was still fine on the inside.  With that bit of information in mind, I peeled a satsuma and found....the fruit was excellent!  Outward appearances can often hide beauty within.

  Not wanting the mites to travel from the infected tree to the mite-free trees, I thought it best to at least eliminate any mites that may be on the ugly fruit.  Basket after basket of the satsumas were picked, hauled into the house and immediately dumped into a sink of hot, soapy water.  After a bit of scrubbing, the peels were removed and quickly bagged for the garbage.  I was not about to take the chance of reinfecting the trees by composting the peels.  Once the couple of hundred satsumas were rid of their mite ridden peels, I had to figure out just what to do with them. Son and I discussed the possibilities and decided that canning some of the slices would be a good start.  Half were canned and half were refrigerated.  Tomorrow, citrus butter will be in the works.

  While most folks would have just discarded the darkened, mite-infested fruit, I just cannot bring myself to waste food.  I was always taught to find a way to make use of what was on hand.  Hopefully, the horticultural oil will do the trick and will rid the grove of all mites but, in the meantime, I will be happy with what I have.  I just have to get past those ugly peels!