:) I 'm kind of the same way....it's the smell I think. So many memories of being

a kid and my Mom getting those big Naval California Oranges at Christmas. She had to hide them so we wouldn't eat them in one day. And then getting the regular

sized Tangerines. I love the

little Halos too...but a couple during the season seems to do it. Plus, if

you get one "not so good/sweet" one, it seems to turn you off trying them

again. Until next year and you forget. LOL

I have not had good luck with the halos I bought. My best friend has a tree that produces the sweetest little manderins. Same size as the halos but so much better. She shares some with me. I bought a big bag of Oranges and ruby red grapefruit, unfortunately neither of them is very good. I bought individual navel Oranges which were excellent.

Same experience as raven, last week's mandarins are mouth-puckering sour and the ones before that were dry and pulpy. But the oranges are really sweet and juicy. I love citrus fruit any time time of the year but they are usually much tastier in autumn/winter.

Oh, I know - last year the ones I bought were completely tasteless and I was so mad. So I bought the Cuties when I saw them and they were good but not the sweetest I'd had. So this year the Halos are pretty good, don't know if it's a temporary thing. I live in Florida and there are some years where the fruit is sweeter than others. I think the Halos and Cuties are from California and I don't know anything about how their weather affects the citrus. Now that I think of it, last year the tangerines that I bought from Florida were tasteless, too.

Our tree is having an abundance of fruit this year! It grew from me throwing out old oranges for the wildlife. I can’t eat citrus anymore, Doug and Kali are enjoying them. They smell delicious!

I eat pounds of citrus all year long, more in season, but grapefruit I eat almost daily even in the off season. This time of year I am especially keen on stem and leaf Satsumas. I bought eight pounds of them this morning. That will last the family two days at most.

My neighbor has two orange trees and I have a huge Meyer lemon tree

Yummy!

I think our bodies know what they need and we have cravings accordingly. This time of year, I adore citrus fruit. Due to my GERD, I really cannot eat oranges - even mandarins or tangerines. I can eat ruby red grapefruit with some avocado and poppy seed dressing over baby spinach and that's my favorite winter salad with dinner. I'm lucky that my local produce market sections this freshly every day so I can easily eat just what I want with no bother! These days, for me, "no bother" is key!

People who take Lipitor or certain other statins shouldn't eat grapefruit or drink its juice. If in doubt, ask your pharmacist.

You can dry the peels and crush them up with a few whole cloves and cinnamon stick to make a nice potpourri.

When I crave citrus it usually means I have a cold coming on :-/

Yes, Flamingo, I save the peels of citrus and simmer with cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. I love the scent, and it adds humidity to the dry, winter air, too.

I was going to add that grapefruit shouldn't be eaten if you're on levothyroxine (Synthroid), but I quickly googled to make sure, and it apparently doesn't have much of an impact (see here). I've been avoiding grapefruit for years because I thought this was the case. I'm going to buy some tomorrow--I love grapefruit. Anglo, your salad sounds divine.

And Meyer lemons, which are becoming available again in my neck of the woods.

I can finally eat and drink red grapefruit. I no longer take any meds affected by it. I love grapefruit juice.

I like Cuties too but I really like red grapefruit, I could eat and eat those. I must get some!

Sue

I think it could be that I'm more thirsty in winter, but I'm indoors in the cold Midwest.

I wouldn't eat the peels, as they most likely have pesticide on them.

I don't care much for either Cuties or Halos......excessive marketing for small, undersized and typically not very sweet or juicy fruit. But like Zalco, I love the stem and leaf satsuma mandarins and buy them (and eat them) in quantity when they are in season. I also love pink or red grapefruit. And I use lemons and limes all year long and always have some on hand but other than that, my citrus purchases are very seasonal.

I find most citrus grown in the US, are of poor quality. I watch for fruit grown in South America, Portugal, or Italy.

Update on citrus - bought some CA navels this week, should have bought more of the Halos instead. Very tasteless and hardly any sweetness at all. Never can tell from one year to the next how it's going to be. Maybe I'll check and see how the FL ones are this year if I can find any. We've got a major problem going on with the citrus greening disease - looks dire for the future of the citrus industry here.

Funny. We were in Costco yesterday and husband said, "You like grapefruit, don't you?" In almost 40 years I've never seen the man eat a grapefruit! All they had was huge bags so we didn't get any.

I have never been a big fan of citrus fruit grown in California. I think the Florida/Indian River fruit is the best I’ve ever had and Texas citrus is a close second.