From exotic winter salads to delicious punch and hot beverages citrus juices and fruits add a lot of zest to holiday recipes. Citrus flavors can be used in holiday baking, or to enhance the flavor of savory main courses. Florida orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemon zest and other citrus contributions to holiday recipes add a bit of natural sweetness and color to hundreds of holiday dishes. Here are a few fun ways to liven up your favorite holiday meals with citrus fruits:

Spice up a Winter Salad - Salads in the middle of the winter season can be kind of dreary in cold climates, so warm them up by adding some shredded orange peel and Florida orange segments. If you want to make a fun red and green salad that is also delicious use exotic blood orange segments that are peeled and diced crosswise in a traditional green salad. Don't forget to add some orange peel to the dressing for a hint of tart flavor.

Add zest to a holiday ham- Ham is a traditional winter holiday dish, and millions of families enjoy a Christmas ham dinner every year. This year enhance the flavor of your holiday ham with a spicy cinnamon -citrus glaze by combining orange juice, fresh orange marmalade, cloves, cinnamon and other spices into a delicious glaze. Slow cook a ham soaked in this glaze and your friends and family will be talking about your holiday dinner for the rest of the year.

Create wonderful desserts - The light citrus taste of Florida oranges, grapefruits and lemons has been used for hundreds of years to make sweet desserts. For holiday breakfasts lemon poppy seed muffins or warm orange apple cider are always popular. Holiday citrus fruit breads like orange cranberry bread, lemon pound cake, or orange pumpkin bread are great all purpose treats that can be served for breakfast, dessert, or as a snack with tea or coffee. A slight squeeze of lemon juice is a great complement to simple almond cookies, or you can candy lemon and orange peels to create a dessert that is also a beautiful garnish. Orange and lemon are also an integral part of traditional holiday desserts like mince pies and holiday puddings.

Serve refreshing citrus cocktails and beverages- Yummy orange champagne punch and other holiday drinks are delicious additions to holiday parties. Added to hot or cold drinks citrus juices can provide a lot of flavor depth and sweetness to a drink as well make the drink lovely to look at.