Have y'all priced citrus lately? It's been way too expensive. Even one orange is around $.80. I prefer smaller items, and would rather spend less for a small one, rather than having to pay that price and not eat the whole thing. Fruit isn't necessarily something I want to leave lying around for another day, even when refrigerated. I made cheese again last night, and needed fresh lemon juice. Last time I made it, I just used bottled, which was what I had on hand. Lemons have been expensive also, and since I don't use them that frequently, they have sometimes gone to waste, which I hate. At the last minute, I remembered that a neighbor had given me some large fresh lemons off their tree, so I went to town squeezing those. I got my 1/3 cup that I needed, then promptly knocked it all over the counter. I figured at least the counter was freshened up, and I had enough leftover lemons from the first batch that I was able to squeeze another 1/3 cup. The ricotta came out really delicious, with a light fresh lemon taste, which will be perfect for my purposes. I'm making strawberry cheese (the ricotta) tarts, so the lemon will give it a nice lift. Have you noticed the increase in citrus and other fruit prices? I know it's the winter, but sheesh, I really like to keep some Fresh Produce on hand. Have you adjusted the way you shop for and use citrus and other fruits/veggies due to higher prices?
Don't call me cheapskate but I seldom buy lemon simply because we have lemon plants in our garden. We used to have 4 plants but 2 have died due to old age maybe. Now, the 2 remaining lemon plants are regularly fruiting to give us a harvest of 1 or 2 fruits in a month. So what we do is to time for the harvest the cooking where lemon is needed. Lemon that is harvested in the backyard seems to have a better taste (although this is psychological).
You have a lemon tree? Do you worry about animals trying to get at it? Any who we like buying oranges as well as those tiny oranges. I'm guessing their tangerine or nectarines? It's one of those oranges you see in the Halo or Cuties commercial. They can get pricey if you can't eat them fast enough unless you freeze some fruits.
Wow that is expensive - and although I fortunately never have to buy any as I grow all my own citrus fruit - I do know that even satsumas and mandarins - which are the most expensive citrus here - are selling for way less than that per kilo. Such a shame you live so far away - as because I have such an abundance this year and my trees are still heavily laden with fruit - even after selling my yearly quota as well as using them in every way that I can - that rather than let them go to waste - I've been giving sack loads of tangerines, mandarins, satsumas, lemons, grapefruits, jaffas and every other kind of orange - away for free since mid December - meaning - I would happily let you have as much as you wanted for absolutely nothing.
Good grief, I'd love to be your neighbor @gata montes! If I had your crop, I'd definitely be making jams, jellies, and anything else I could think of with that abundance! I planted a dwarf lemon tree out back, but it ended up dying. I think the lawn crew I used to have damaged the roots. I still have one lemon that I'm holding onto. The ones in the grocery stores here are small and expensive, and these are huge and very juicy. If I ever get settled into my own place, and I'm still down here where I could actually grow tropical plants, I would love to put in some lemon, lime and orange trees. I've never seen them this expensive before. Maybe it's related to the weather concerns in California, but I know farmers grow citrus down in the Rio Grande Valley (of Texas), so you'd think production and transportation costs would be cheaper and would lead to lower prices. @Corzhens Maybe it's not all psychological. It could be that the type you have produce less and more tasty fruit, but citrus growers choose different varieties that produce more fruit, since that's how they make money. I'd definitely prefer more flavor. Do y'all plan on replacing the two trees y'all lost?
Well, my sister gave me quite a bit of fruit over the Holidays as her son's band was selling it. So, I haven't bought fruit for awhile but I will be sure to take a look at the citrus fruit prices the next time I go the store. Some of it is on sale over the holidays so it is something that I wonder about.
We have one seedling here that will be a replacement for the lemon tree that died. By the way, citrus loves organic fertilizer - we give them the water used to rinse fish and meat in the kitchen, seems very nutritious that's why they have flowers every once in a while. What's left here is actually a lime and a lemon. The lime is a descendant of our original tree and the lemon was grown from a seed.
I have seen the increasing price citrus fruit has gone throughout the past two months, but I don't worry too much because there is a huge orange tree at my parents home from where I get most of my oranges all year round, not to mention there are several others down the streets, including oranges, tangerines, lemons and even figs, that not being a citrus fruit, counts as one of those trees that one can found planted on public areas, hence which fruit anyone can rip off. Bearing in mind that I'm not a fruit enthusiast, what I get from those trees is enough, but sometimes I prefer to wait for discount prices to buy them at Walmart for easiness.
Same here in Hawaii for fruit prices it went up! We were quite happy with latest orange prices .99 a pound and were buying up a storm of fresh oranges thankfully this crop was sweet. We usually get Fuji apples for .79 now it's 1.49 a pound lately on sale yet!
