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Cocktails

Put Your Winter Citrus to Work

February 07, 2024

Story: Punch Staff

photos: Lizzie Munro

Cocktails

Put Your Winter Citrus to Work

February 07, 2024

Story: Punch Staff

photos: Lizzie Munro

Blood orange Old-Fashioned to "citrus stock," here are the recipes and hacks you need to make the most of the season.

While winter drinking tends toward the strong and stirred, the swell of the season’s most sought-after produce—bright citrus fruits—is a call to break out the shaker. And while a classic Daiquiri or Margarita is always welcome, some drinks, like a blood orange spritz or an amaro-tinged grapefruit sour, feel especially appropriate this time of year.

To make the most out of the seasonal ingredients, consider a few techniques to give citrus a boost in flavor and texture. Aerating juice in a high-speed juicer is one of the easiest ways to amplify aroma while creating a pleasant fluffiness, and the move can improve everything from Garibaldis, as popularized at New York’s Dante, to just about any citrus-forward cocktail, like a Paloma or Greyhound, that could benefit from a crown of froth.

Fluffy Citrus Garibaldi Recipe Dante NYC
Articles

The Key to “Fluffy Citrus”

Aerating citrus in a blender is the secret to a frothier, more aromatic drink.

Acid Adjust Citrus Cocktail Recipe
Articles

Hack Your Drink: Acid-Adjusted Citrus

Used in tandem with fresh juice, acid powders can amplify flavors, or create new ones all together.

Articles

The Magic of “Citrus Stock”

Spent citrus and other fruits can be blended and cooked into “stocks” that provide another layer of flavor in drinks.

With texture perfected, turn to refining flavor with acid adjustment. When sweeter winter citrus is swapped in place of more acidic lemons and limes—grapefruit juice subbing for lime in a Daiquiri, for example—powdered citric and malic acids can bring some of that tanginess back into a drink and add versatility to any citrus juice.

Once you’ve made use of your clementines and Meyer lemons, don’t forget about the waste in their wake. “Citrus stock,” or a mixture of blended and cooked peels, is a handy and sustainable tool that can stand in for citrus or be mixed with sugar like a fortified cordial. Created by the Trash Collective, the citrus stock formula can be customized depending on the drink it’s intended for. Consider Sour Lemon stock, a hybrid of the acid adjustment and citrus stock hacks, to add zing and viscosity to any cocktail.

Ready for a bright spot this season? Here are 12 of our favorite ways to use blood oranges, grapefruits and more, from a frothy aperitivo drink to a wintry cobbler.

Metexa Cocktail Recipe
Recipes

Metexa

A modernized take on an obscure tequila aperitif.

Fizz Italiano
Recipes

Fizz Italiano

A fluffy aperitivo drink topped with the Italian bitter soda Sanbittèr.

Chirulin Pisco Sour Recipe
Recipes

Chirulín

A grapefruit-based spin on the classic Peruvian drink.

Recipes

Blood Orange Cosmo

A winterized take on the Cosmo from New York's famed Flatiron Lounge.

Salt and Ash Cocktail Recipe
Recipes

Salt & Ash

An unorthodox recipe that stirs together mezcal, tequila, sweet vermouth and lemon juice.

Blood Orange Garibaldi
Recipes

Blood Orange Garibaldi

An immensely satisfying two-ingredient cocktail.

Bitter Handshake
Recipes

Bitter Handshake

An after-dinner Fernet Old-Fashioned brightened with a blood orange reduction.

Recipes

Milano-Torino Sour

The two-ingredient, equal-parts aperitivo classic gets the sour treatment.

Rose Cobbler Recipe
Recipes

Coastal Grooves

A winter citrus cobbler spotlighting both blood and navel oranges.

Pompelmo Sour
Recipes

Pompelmo Sour

Equal parts grapefruit fizz and lemon milkshake, pumped up with gin and bittersweet Amaro Montenegro.

Blood Orange Margarita
Recipes

Blood Orange Margarita

A showcase for that most dramatic of winter citrus.

winter paloma cocktail recipe
Recipes

Winter Paloma

The Mexican classic gets dressed up in a winter coat, courtesy the addition of sage-grapefruit syrup.

low proof julep cocktail recipe
Recipes

Cynar Julep

A julep built on Cynar instead of bourbon.

Recipes

Fancy 79

This French 75 riff cuts down on waste by utilizing the entirety of the citrus—in this case, clementine.

Its So Easy
Recipes

It’s So Easy

A clementine cobbler that calls back to the soda fountain counters of yore.

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