Remember those canned tangerines you loved as a child? Well, I have a method of recreating them in almost no time. One of the best aspects of living in central California’s San Joaquin Valley is the abundance of fruit. And free citrus fruit at that. Bicycle across Fresno and you will see grapefruits weighing down branches and dangling over fences begging to be picked. In the older neighborhoods of town, the old garbage alleys reveal trees bursting with oranges, tangerines and lemons. Drive outside of town and pomegranate and persimmon trees still bear fruit. The baking and juicing possibilities are endless.

So when a friend gave me two huge shopping bags of tangerines, at first I was gobsmacked, then I was excited. I am not a canning expert at all: what I did do was secure a bunch of mason jars and quick canned the fruit before it spoiled.

Quick Canned Tangerines:

I use a ratio of four cups of water to every cup of sugar: you will need to experiment and see what works for you; obviously artificial sweeteners or alternatives such as agave syrup are options.

After I rinsed the tangerines and patted them dry, I peeled--and reserved the peels--of the tangerines.

Remove the bitter white pith of the tangerine segments as you separate them.

Boil the tangerine peels with the sugar and water

Bring the 4 to 1 water/ sugar mixture, with the peels for additional flavor, to a brisk boil for a minute before turning down the stove’s heat to low.

Fill your mason jars about half to 2/3 full with the tangerine segments. Pour the sugar syrup over the segments, and then seal the jars. Place them in the fridge. Give them as gifts.

The results . . . are bliss. They pair well with yogurt. Or vodka.

About The Author

Leon Kaye

Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division, GGP Media. Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event. His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He writes for San Francisco-based Triple Pundit, Inhabitat and now The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's Architect Magazine. Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.