Chilli Fermented Oranges
A quick fiery ferment for citrus season
Many moons ago, I used to have a plethora of ferments on the go. Even buying brewers buckets to produce on mass spicy lime pickle (mass for my tiny London kitchen). It was my addiction that I shared with real life friends and some instagram ones as well.
Lime pickle was my thing, salting and fermenting for weeks then mixing through a highly spiced oil and lightly cooking before packing into jars, putting my hand designed label on and flogging for a fiver. I had become accustomed to the question, what can I eat it with. Immediately I’d respond in sarcastic fashion ‘With a spoon’ this being a suitable(ish) response to my friends, but not so to paying customers. I had to give it more thought, which meant many a lime pickle infused meal, not to my complaint, the whole reason I’d started making it was because myself (& my partner) were obsessed with the stuff. So this is when Lime pickle marinades were made for chicken before roasting, lime pickle yogurt became a base for charred green beans, added to salad dressings and tossed over roasted squash and then ultimately the lime pickle cheese toastie which obviously became the outright winner.
Heres a photo from back in 2021 when the lime pickle in house factory was in full swing.
So now when I reach for that fruit or vegetable I’m about to ferment, preserve, pickle etc my starting thought is what am I using this in. These oranges are some what inspired buy Roy Choi’s use of oranges in his marinades, orange & chilli just works and he knows it. So what else do I want that to work with, theres always an option for the liquid to be used in a variation of a spicy marg, think salty, fiery, citrus and tequila, YES PLEASE. But then back to Roy, toss these slices into a roasting pan with your next pork roast, bring it to spicy salty town, or the classic kinda of turned on its head duck al orange but slow cook duck legs with the oranges, add some garlic, coriander seeds, chipotle and we are moving towards duck carnitas which is a very happy place to be. Now because I’m always thinking about colours & aesthetics (it’s my job), alongside flavours, I want to see the vibrant orange with vibrant purple so how about finely dicing the orange slices and scattering over roasted beetroot, served on top of a tahini yogurt, or adding to some chopped olives and (again) scattering over potatoes, salty, spicy, briney, bloody great.
Chilli Fermented Oranges
500g Oranges
12.5g Chilli Maldon salt*
1 Lime
Top and tail the oranges, (keep the rest of the peel on) slice down the centre and then slice into thin half moons. Add to a large mixing bowl with the juice of the lime, check the weight as you need this to match the salt amount, rule of thumb for ferments is weight of what you are fermenting x 0.025, to get the correct amount of salt so adjust if needed.
Add the salt and get your hands in to mix, the oranges will start to release liquid, this is what you want. Give them a massage, they bloody love it.
Pack them into a clean jar, Ive been using a old Bold Bean Co jar which volume is 500ml, so any jar that size will work. You want to squish them in, trying not to leave air bubbles and gaps. Pour over the remaining liquid from the bowl, clean the top edge of the jar and pop the lid on lightly. Place the jar on a plate, this saves your counter from overspill when the oranges get lively.
Leave out of direct sunlight for a week, this is a quick ferment, when you are happy with the amount of fermentation, you could leave it for another week but I feel like there wasn’t improvement past 1 week, start using them, in anything and everything. Keep them in the fridge from now on.
*This can be swapped out for regular Maldon and adding a tsp of chilli flakes.