Wild orange brine?

Wow! Wish I had those "pop up" around here! Wild Oranges! Cool, and I would not hesitate to use them in a brine, marinade, and the thought of Wild Orange Jelly sets me reeling! Try some stuffed into the cavity of a bird and then smoked. Dry the peels for seasoning. Slice `em, spice `em, and can `em. Spiced oranges are great with meats.

Sour oranges are one of the main ingredients of the "mojo" which is used to marinate small legs of pork here in Tampa to make a Cuban style roast for festive occasions. Lots of garlic, some wine, olive oil, etc, round off this marinade.

Go for it!

I love it when you talk to me dirty, Bobby! Yowza, that sounds killer!

Bobby Que is right on.

The sour orange is used for all south Florida Cuban influence.

When we can't get them ,we use 50/50 fresh orange and fresh lemon to approximate.

It is the essential acid for pork and the fresh ham that is used a lot.

Of course a little scotch bonnet goes great with that garlic and oil.

Cool! Thanks ya'll. I think I'll do a mojo adaptation of some sort. Cuba-Q. Sounds great. i2BBQ

You can do all sorts of things with sour oranges (wild oranges).

They can occur when the sweet fruit wood stock is frozen back during a freeze in the winter or accidentally pruned excessively. What crops up is an orange tree that produces a very very sour fruit.

The oranges can be used for orange marmalade, Mojo sauce in cuban recipes (it is an excellent marinade!) and also makes a very good orangeade drink!

You got an orange tree that froze?...cut it down and let the wood cure and you have a great wood to smoke with!

There is enough citrus wood in Florida that gets cut down in the groves and that just gets burned in the field that someone may be able to work out a deal with the growers and distribute the wood. It smokes very well (as good as hickory in my opinion) but you don't get an orange smell or essence and you do need to cure it well as it is a very very green wood.

Enjoy!

Preston D

Career best! (Which ain't saying much, but anyhow..) One fine Boston butt. 13 hours. (Bare in mind I drive a Brinkman offset.) But the brine worked. As I recall, one result of brining is increasing moistness of final product. This was one wet butt! Really good. The brine was 1/2 cup kosher in 2 qts water. Plus about 8 wild oranges, 1 jalapeno, pepper, 1/2 cup bourbon and all the garlics left in the house. Only 10 hours of brining. Then rinsed that brute, rubbed it, and put it on the fire.
I tried to reach 205* internal. Not sure I did, but it was over 180* and almost tomorrow. Falling apart pulled poke!
And here's the thing. The taste, plus moistness, made a serving that was "stand alone." No sauce really necessary, and for a butt, that's saying something.
But I made a goop anyway. A basic mojo sauce. (Had other's on the table, just in case.)
Got to say, the mojo-brine was a breakthrough.
And I hope everyone is feeling better. Maybe That Joe Guy can do a song: "Queing your Blues Away."

i2BBQ

AMAZING, SIMPLY AMAZING, is there anything that you guys and gals can't cook with? As soon as I can find that partner I need, I'm going to go ballistic and open a bbq place down here! And all of you can be my consultants! (ad honorum of course).

And pro bono as well?