Segment Citrus "Like a Boss"

Update: I just found out when I made an olive oil cornmeal cake with blood orange that this technique has a name - supreming. Who knew! 

A good salad in a restaurant will have something that's lacking in a salad made at home. This something is love - enough love for a salad that you'll put in a little effort. Now, I'm not naming any names, but I'm sure we've all been there - salad as an afterthought. Of course, there's always room for a simple green salad with any meal, but sometimes you want to "get a little fancy".

One trick for doing so that I picked up while working at restaurants is segmenting citrus like a boss. By using this simple technique, your citrus segments reveal only flesh, rather than the surrounding pith and are colorful, shiny, and juicy. Here's what you do:

Cut peel off of citrus fruit.

Cut peel off of citrus fruit.

  1. Cut away the peel from the citrus fruit by slicing off each end and cutting down the edge of the fruit to reveal the flesh.

  2. Cut out segments from pith around edge of the fruit.

As you get toward the end, it can be difficult to segment them perfectly, but don't worry, you can slice through the pith at this point. I also like to squeeze the juice from the edges and remaining pith into the salad dressing. 

Cut into flesh to remove segments.

Cut into flesh to remove segments.

Removing beautiful segment.

Removing beautiful segment.

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