Citrus Celebration
Saturday February 18, 2023, 9am-1pm
At Mission Garden: Placita (kitchen area), Event Ramada, other areas
Suggested donation at the garden gate
The many species of citrus in the world today originated in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Melanesia and Australia. They spread out from there and each species was bred into many, many different varieties. Mission Garden has many locally traditional varieties of these citrus trees: Valencia oranges, Seville oranges, Mexican sweet limes, pomelos, grapefruit, Meyer lemon, tangerine, kumquat, and more.
On Feb 18, 2023 we will have our first celebration of this local citrus bonanza! There will be interpretive displays detailing all the traditional varieties found in the garden. And foods available made with oranges and other fruits and demonstrations of how to make dishes.
Especially featured will be Seville oranges–a sour orange that was heavily used as a flavoring in a variety of ways, much like we use lemons today. Most citrus was sour, like Sevilles, before the breeding of sweet oranges like Valencias. Seville oranges are still the source of all the world’s orange marmalade and it is still used as a component of many Middle Eastern dishes and those of other cuisines.
Activities for the day include:
Mission Garden information table about Seville oranges, with examples of products you can taste.
Partner organization Iskashitaa Refugee Network will be selling Sunshine Marmalade (tangelo, lemon & orange), Blood Orange Date Cardamon Preserves, Meyer Lemon/Pink Lemon Marmalade, Ruby Red Grapefruit/Ginger Marmalade, Seville butter cookies, Seville pecan caramels, Savory Sonoran pixie styx and Citrus salts. There will also be a pomelo demonstration.
Middle Eastern cooks from ELFA, led by frequent garden collaborator Rania Kanawati, will provide sour orange tea, Kabli rice, Nanerge sweets (Syrian); Mabshura sweets, and Harresa sweets.
There will also be a raffle!
Speakers and demonstration in Event Ramada
10am Dena Cowan speaks on where Seville oranges come from
10:20am Barbara Eiswerth introduces Janet Griffith to talk about Iskashitaa
10:40am Seville oranges through a multicultural lens: Stories from refugees
11:30am Rice demonstration by Rania Kanawati of ELFA
12:15pm Announcement of raffle winners
Tables and Demonstrations, 9am-1pm (ongoing basis)
Mission Garden: Garden staff and volunteers will have interpretive displays of all of the diverse citrus fruit at Mission Garden, their origins, and their uses. We’ll also have a d.emonstration of mojo criollo (marinade) outside the Mission Garden kitchen.
Iskashitaa Refugee Network: Iskashitaa representatives will be selling many citrus focused items from seville butter cookies, to sonoran citrus pixie styx to sundry types of marmalades, preserves, and marinades/vinaigrettes.
AmeriCorps NCCC: Nine members of AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) have been working with both Mission Garden and partner Iskashitaa Refugee Network. They will have a table with examples of citrus harvested by NCCC while working for Iskashitaa and description of what their NCCC experience in Tucson has been like.
ELFA: Middle Eastern dishes with Seville orange are common in Middle Eastern and mediterranean cooking (lemon usually substituted in US). ELFA will have examples of several of these.
Carolyn Niethammer: Carolyn is making “whole seville orange cupcakes,” which will be for sale for $4 each.
Josefina Lizarraga: Mission Garden partner and “godmother” Josefina Lizarraga will have a demonstration and tasting of citrus blossom tea.
Raffle: Gift basket with a recipe and ingredients for Mission Garden Margarita.
Proud Partners with
Iskashitaa Refugee Network (IRN) creates opportunities to integrate United Nations refugees into the Southern Arizona community while educating the public, strengthening the local food system, reducing local food waste, and increasing
ELFA is a new non-profit providing refugees and youth of all backgrounds with resources, workshops, support, and a safe environment to develop healthy habits, find new talents, and gain leadership skills so that they may become role models for others.
