Use These Ratios to Turn Any Citrus Fruit Into a Recipe
It’s citrus season now, and you might end up with a couple of boxes of tangelos, clementines, or oranges. If you need to use a surplus, but not a recipe for this exact fruit, you can swap it out for the fact that you are already using the below guide from Illustrated Cook.
As Cook’s Illustrated notes in the link below, changing the citrus will slightly change the flavor profile, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. To change the zest, juice, or citrus wedges in any recipe, see the Ratios below and adjust as needed.
- Navel orange: 1 1/2 tablespoons zest, 1/2 cup juice, 3/4 cup wedges.
- Tangelo: 1 tablespoon zest, 3/4 cup juice, 3/4 cup wedges.
- Mandarin: 1 teaspoon zest, 1/4 cup juice, 3/4 cup wedges.
- Clementine: 1 teaspoon zest, 2 tablespoons juice, 1/2 cup wedges.
For example, if you’re making a dish that requires one tangelo zest and only contains clementines, you will need to add three clementine zest to get the same amount of citrus zest in your recipe. These substitutions work for almost any recipe, but Cook’s Illustrated notes that tangelo segments can be very juicy, so drain them for a short time if consistency is important.
Making the Orange Family Work | Illustrated chef