I never realized how much citrus I eat until I started composting. Here in California, we have access to so much of it all year round that often the orange — underrated and ignored — gets pushed to the back of the fridge or wrinkles up in the fruit basket. But now, citrus is at its peak of juiciness and flavor.

If you’re looking for ideas for your Valentine’s Day dessert, I have a fabulous recipe to elevate your mandarin, tangerine, tangelo, lime, lemon, blood orange or grapefruit to show-stopper status. Chocolate is an obvious choice for dessert on Valentine’s Day, and I love chocolate mousse, but it can be too rich and heavy at the end of a meal. Mousse means foam in French and this tangerine mousse is exactly that. And if you really have to satisfy your chocolate craving, you can add a chocolate-dipped Florentine cookie on the side.

In researching this mousse dessert, I tried three recipes. The first didn’t involve cooking the eggs, using powdered unflavored gelatin instead; it was light and airy, but didn’t have much flavor, and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to use uncooked eggs. The second, a family favorite, required chocolate but I used tangerine juice instead. The flavor had more citrus tanginess, but there was excess liquid at the bottom of each cup and the base was a cooked egg custard that can be a challenge if you haven’t made one before. The third recipe was the easiest to make, with no eggs to whip or cook. The flavor was just the right tang, the texture smooth as foam. I hit the jackpot.

The recipe from Food52 calls for making your own jello, and then breaking it up into lumps by whisking whipped cream into it. Because I was looking for a lighter, foamier dessert, I folded in the whipped cream while the juice mixture was still pourable and it worked beautifully.

I used 1 cup of fresh tangerine juice (about 10 tangerines or mandarins), but Trader Joe’s tangerine juice works well, too (it’s also good for making mimosas). But if you have some time and you haven’t been to Monterey Market in Berkeley, I highly recommend it. It sells a huge variety of produce at good prices, the choice of citrus is astounding and the market is popular all year long.

Please plan ahead because the tangerine juice needs to set slightly in the fridge for 90 minutes before adding the whipped cream. You can also make it the day before and refrigerate it in individual ramekins or glass bowls, so you will have plenty of time to prepare the rest of the meal or just serve dessert.

Claudia Alexander has been happily cooking for family and friends for more than three decades. She has a weekly food blog, sweetbynurture.com. Contact her at sweetbynurture@gmail.com.