I have a citrus intolerance, so an awful lot of recipes are off limits. What can I substitute for it?
Jane, Hoole, Chester
Citrus brings welcome sharpness, sweetness and freshness to food, cutting through the rich, buttery dishes that winter so often calls for. But when life doesn’t give you lemons (or limes, oranges and grapefruit), Ravinder Bhogal suggests looking to the Middle Eastern spice sumac. “It’s sharp and sherbetty in a similar way to lemon,” says the regular Guardian columnist and chef-patron of Jikoni in London. “If you were making a dip, for example, and couldn’t use lemon, finish it with sumac and you’ll get the same level of acidity.”
Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, chef-founder of Casa and Paco Tapas in Bristol, and executive chef at Decimo in London, agrees. He sprinkles sumac (and a drizzle of olive oil) over cooked fish: “That, for me, is the closest you can get to replicating that citrus flavour. I put it on everything: rice, eggs, salad ...” The latter is a particularly good pairing with sumac, says Chaya Pugh, development chef at the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, both in the dressing or mixed with seeds to sprinkle on top. (Spoiler alert: “Later this year, we’re doing a watermelon recipe in the paper where, instead of using citrus juice, we mix sumac with sugar, salt and chilli for a tangy, sweet, spicy, sprinkly thing.”) Alternatively, Sanchez-Iglesias peps up salads with pickle juice, be that from kimchi, pickled onions or even pickled eggs: “Use a little of the liquid to make the dressing.”
