My blood orange tree is 7 years old. It produced fruit only three times so far. The crops of oranges were tasteless other than a sweet flavor, but not a good sweet flavor and absolutely no citrus taste. Absent of citrus! The flesh is very pretty , juicy and healthy looking but nasty flavor. My other citrus trees have good fruit. It gets regular water via automatic water system. I use citrus fertilizer as well as 15-15-15. I've tried over fertilizing and under fertilizing. Could it be missing a particular nutrient? The tree came from a reputable grower. Any ideas? I plan to give it another 2-3 yrs then I'm pulling it. My mothers tree produces the best tasting oranges ever. I want the same!

These days we only juice citrus. We had a Jack Lalane juicer for apples and carrots, but we gave it away because we do not produce enough apples or carrots to juice. After tasting garden carrots we no longer want to buy commercial carrots. I found the Lalane really wasteful, lots of good roughage gone to the compost rather than our bodies. Also, a real pain in the $%^& to clean. It does make very good carrot, apple, carrot apple, melon, kale, celery juices. We switched to a vitamix, still experimenting with it, but we are interested in getting the whole food in a juice/smoothie, rather than just the juice and throw a lot away. I juice gallons and gallons of citrus. It was 10 gallons last year. That was the excess, not what we drank as we went along! We probably drank another 10 gallons. I have an citrus juicer attachment to our kitchenaid mixer. It is crap, don't buy it. The manual ones are OK, I have several different types. The Mexican clam-shell types that close on the halved citrus are not bad for small quantities. Since most of what we juice are minneolas, I now use a food mill. Same exact tool i use to mill my tomatoes. This is because minneolas have a very delicate, easy to remove peel when they are ripe, so it is best to peel first, then juice. In the rare occasion I juice grapefruit I'll use the crappy Kitchen aide attachment, or a regular manual juicer. In any case, the food mill is easier on the body than the electric Kitchen aide attachment, more comfortable to use and less effort, believe it or not. Also, the quality of the juice is exceptional, it does not separate when it sits, and it freezes nicely. I should also say I only juice quarts at a time, not gallons at a time. I get approximately 1-2 quarts per large basket of citrus, I only pick at most 3 baskets (so about 3-6 quarts at a time)

I was curious so looked it up. Costco chickens arrive to them pre-brined (brine being the "added solution) from the supplier. The ingredients include sodium phosphate and a lot of gums and starches (variable in their exact nature). Too much phosphorous can be bad for you, but if you mostly get your phosphorous from whole foods (what's a synonym of that which isn't the name of a store?), you're fine. In general, for mass produced foods, the ingredients label for Costco chicken isn't that scary. :) I don't know if the "chicken goo" that pkramer spoke is more about brine gelling because of the gums in it, but actual roasted chicken juice, sans brine, does gel in the fridge. It pretty well melts at room temperature, but only needs to be cool to gel. It's the collagen. I presume from the cartilage. Beef bones will also give you gelling juice. That kind of gel is actually very good for you and people go out of their way to make it.

Here are two recipes I saved for "future reference" but have never made. Fig Jam 3-4 half pints 3 1/2 cups figs, chopped (peel if desired) 2 cup white sugar 1 large orange 3-4 Tblsp. Lemon juice (Either white or dark figs may be used, but use the larger amount of lemon juice with the dark figs.) 1. Peel (if desired) and chop figs. Add sugar. 2. Cut orange rind very fine.. about 1/3 cup. Cook rind in a small amount of water until tender. Chop the rind and add to figs. 3. Cook all slowly for about 1/2 hour until thick, stirring freuently. 4. Add lemon juice. 5 Ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Seal at once. This was on GardenWeb: • evenshade (My Page) on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 15:00 We eat them fresh, of course, but for preserving, I make Chipotle Fig jam. I use a recipe similar to this one..... Chipotle Fig Jam Yields 4 half pints 2 lbs figs, chopped 2 cups sugar 1 cup water 4 tablespoons lemon juice, plus a few lemon slices if desired 1-1½ canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped " to taste, depending on your desired spice level Chop your figs according to how chunky you want your jam, and place in a large non-reactive pot. Cover with sugar and let macerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Add water, lemon juice, and lemon slices if using, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and stir regularly to prevent scorching. After an hour, if needed, use a potato masher to break up the figs. Stir in the chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce. Cook another 15-20 minutes, or until the jam has reached a consistency you like. Ladle into hot jars, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. I have processed them in boiling water but usually make "freezer" jam.