The Orange - Another Personal Experience

I skipped the fruit and vegetables subject in the last issue of the BPC newsletter because I just could not think of a good candidate to write about during my composing time period. But almost immediately after that newsletter issue went to press, it struck me. The fruit I know the most about has to be the “Orange”.

I was born and raised in a family that grew oranges for a living. Yes, my mom and dad grew oranges. My mother’s parents grew oranges. A couple of aunts and uncles grew oranges. The city were I grew up is famous for the oranges they grew (the city of Riverside).

Our family had three varieties of oranges that we grew in our groves - no, it was four varieties. We did have one tree that was a “blood orange”. It was very unique and different to us kids, and also to our buddies. The fruit on that tree did not taste that great, and in hind sight I remember the juice as being somewhat sour. But, it was a “blood orange tree”, meaning that its pulp was red in color. When I was a teenager, us kids would often seek out that special tree in the orange grove and pick a few “blood oranges” off of that tree.

The other three varieties that we grew were the Valencia, the seedling (a juice orange), and the Washington navel. The seedling orange was solely used as a juice orange and had somewhat of a sour taste. The taste of the Valencia was between the seedling and the Washington navel, and often was pealed and directly eaten similar to how the Washington navel was eaten.

I am going to focus on the Washington navel, because that was my favorite and it probably has to be yours as well. Let us start from the beginning. The “beginning” as I know it is that this navel type orange oriented in Bahia, Brazil. It was first imported into the U.S. during the 1870’s. The trees went to the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C. where they were propagated and named “the Washington Navel”. The resultant trees were then sent to California and Florida.

Well, the trees that went to Florida did not flourish – in other words they died. But in the ideal climate of Riverside, California those trees resulted in an exceptionally delicious, seedless, easy-to-peel fruit. In addition, the slices are very easy to separate. You can recognize a navel orange because it often has a big navel on the blossom end.

An orange tree is evergreen. This means that they have bright green foliage year around. During blossom time (late winter) it has a very fragrant flower. The Washington Navel orange is at its best in the late fall to winter months, but will hold on the tree for several months beyond maturity and stores well.

The orange is a tree that is not difficult to grow, but has certain limitations. Very low temperatures and very high temperatures adversely affect the tree and its fruit.

When we were kids, radio station KFI Los Angeles, carried “fruit frost warnings” during the winter. They always interrupted our favorite radio show “I Love A Mystery”. They would report that the temperature would get below 32 degrees that night. It the temperature stayed there for a few hours, the foliage would get damaged. When the temperature went below 28 degrees, even the fruit might become damaged.

At this time that I am writing this article (July 2005), I find that nursery stock for a new Washington navel orange tree is not available in the southern California area. This variety of tree is now sold out until the October 2005 timeframe.

For more about Oranges, read my bio on my web home page. (Http://www.peterleibert.net)