Citrus xsinensis

This week’s star ingredient is the orange (Citrus xsinensis)

It’s hard to find an ingredient as versatile as the orange. It’s great simply squeezed into a glass and can be used to flavor nearly everything from duck to cookies. I can literally think of nothing that doesn’t go well with orange. The juice and zest have flavors and applications that are so similar and so different all at once, that I think of oranges, and any other citrus fruit for that matter, as two fruits all in one perfect package. So you won’t be surprised that the fruit is probably my favorite ingredient to cook with.

The orange is of Southeast Asian origin and thought to be an ancient cultivated cross between the pomelo and tangerine. The first evidence of cultivated oranges in the West were the sour oranges of 11th century Sicily. Sweet oranges were planted later when the Portuguese discovered the sea rout around Africa and brought the sweet fruit from the east. Columbus brought the seeds to Haiti in the 15th century and soon oranges were planted in Florida.

Most oranges we eat in America come from either Florida or California. Florida oranges have thin skins with varied coloring and blemishing. They are best suited for juicing whereas picture perfect, thick-skinned California oranges are best for eating. Oranges , and all other citrus fruits, keep their juices in elongated bags called vesicles which are inside of each segment. Oranges also contain an incredible amount of aromatic and flavorful oil which is stored in oil glands within the fruits scaly skin, sort of like fruit zits. Between the segments and the skin is the white, spongey pith. Bitter and un-enticing on its own, the pith can be candied along with the skin, at which point it’s delicious dipped in chocolate.

Close inspection of this blood orange shows the elongated, juice-holding vesicles

My favorite common orange to cook with is the ubiquitous navel orange. My favorite specialty orange is the blood orange. Blood oranges are delectably sweet and sour and their crimson color provides dramatic presentation. For example, Blood Orange and Grand Marnier Popsicles.

Keep reading Garrett’s Table this week for a modern interpretation of a French classic using the mighty orange!

Share on Facebook