Oranges

Think global, eat local. The farmer's market mantra has been popular for several years. It is something I think highly desirable. I do, however, allow certain gross deviations. One is for bananas. Bananas are one of the few fruit that ripen off the vine, and thus long time from farm to mouth does not hamper things that much. Another is for citrus. I drop my eat local rule for citrus for the same reason as for bananas, that citrus travels well. More important to my sensibility, good citrus has a defined seasonality to it. For instance, Texas grapefruit are not currently in market. And, of course, I like the variety of varieties.

At present, we have five types of oranges at the Bungalow: Temple (River) oranges from Florida; blood oranges from California (Sunkist); clementines from Spain; navel oranges from Florida; and navel oranges from California. Myself and the chowhounditas plan on conducting a more formal tasting soon--I want to add mineolas first. I would say, that right now, I am especially keen on the Temple oranges. These oranges, so quaintly, still have seeds. Lots of seeds. And the skin does not break away so easily. You can see why Navel's control the market. Yet, this is a great orange, musky and sweet.

To be continued.

Are bitter oranges (seville) available at Mexican markets? I've been meaning to buy some for to infuse alcohol.

I don't believe these would be appropriate for straight eating, but I think you can juice them. Here is another case akin to chocolate (and for some, coffee) where sugar is a necessity. Marmalades and jams are also an option, but don't fit with an orange "taste-off."

rien

Don't forget juice oranges. Texas Hamlins at the Asian market for $12 per box. Great price - great juice.

Bill/SFNM

Marketplace on Oakton recently had Satsuma Mandarins, many of them still attached to small branches with leaves. I took a few home for a tasting and found them enjoyable, similar to a clementine (also a mandarin variety?) but less sweet.

Best,
Michael / EC

Vital Information wrote: Myself and the chowhounditas plan on conducting a more formal tasting soon--I want to add mineolas first.

You shouldn't have any problem finding minneolas, but Caputo's on Harlem has them along with two other varieties of tangerine. Or at least they did a couple of weeks ago.

And they had kumquats, still on the branch, pomelos, et cetera. The pomelos were outstanding. The kumquats were, well, a little sour.

-ed

gleam wrote:

Vital Information wrote: Myself and the chowhounditas plan on conducting a more formal tasting soon--I want to add mineolas first.

You shouldn't have any problem finding minneolas, but Caputo's on Harlem has them along with two other varieties of tangerine. Or at least they did a couple of weeks ago.

And they had kumquats, still on the branch, pomelos, et cetera. The pomelos were outstanding. The kumquats were, well, a little sour.

-ed

Yes, I know Caputo's has Minneola's. The leads on the Satsuma's cool, although I'd like to find some a bit closer to home. Anything else in the market right now?

I've been eating those Sunkist blood oranges almost daily. They're great. And I used some to make Rich's sorbet. Good stuff.

I know that this is slightly off-topic but ...

I was Caputos on Harlem over last weekend and bought a fantastic fresh tangerine juice, a Florida product for 0.99/qt. It was naturally sweet and much less acidic than orange juice. Great stuff - and I generally avoid citrus juices.

rien-

Look back for many posts about where to find sevillas and what to do with them. The juice is the key ingredient for mojo criollo. La Unica had scads of the best-looking sevilles I'd seen outside my neighbors' back yards in FL as recently as the days before NYE (to make mojo for the lechon, of course). The juice is sour, but it is the zest and the pith that are bitter. The latter, I believe, is what you want for your digestifs. The folks at La Unica might still have some fresh. Otherwise, they freeze the leftover holiday stock and have them in the freezer section next to the museum of tamales from around the Horn.

If anyone spots a "chinotto" (smaller and even more bitter) perhaps at an Italian market, let us know. The trees are small and attractive, and might be grown inside as an ornamental, though the sunlight here might not do it. Never seen a tree for sale here.

The Spanish clementines this year have been spectacularly good, in my considerable experinece over the last few months.

When my parents lived in Phoenix some years ago, my mother used bitter orange juice to make an orangeade as one would make lemonade. As Jeffb notes, the juice is sour but not bitter. Getting the right amount of sugar and water may take some experimenting. The end result was quite refreshing.

VI,

I saw Texas star ruby grapefruits yesterday at the Dominicks in Greektown. I also bought a bag of them last week at the Jewel at Clark and Division.

We use them at the club all winter, until April or so. It seems like the Florida reds are cutting into their market.

I had some exceptional grapefruit last April at the Westwood farmers market in LA. I can't for the life of me recall what variety it was, though. I remember (possibly wrongly) that it was white fleshed, and I think it may have been a grapefruit/pomelo hybrid. It was sweet, juicy, and had a little bit of tart at the end. I wish I could find more of it.

-ed

While Oranges do have a long shelf live, they do not last that long. So, I thought it prudent to do our orange tasting with what we had in-house. Tasters were me, the two Chowhounditas and the Condiment Queen.

1. Blood Orange - Sunkist, purchased at Trader Joe's - One taster declared this the best; another declared it tied for best. Inside the orange is not orange (of course) but dark ruby red. It smells much different than the other oranges too, an aroma called after much debate, "unique." In the mouth, it was both strongly sweet and strongly sour, mimicking raspberries. In the best Wonka-way, it managed to change as was eaten.

2. Temple Orange - Florida - This was the favorite orange of two tasters and tied for favorite from a third. The inside of this orange is very bright, not like a real orange but like a picture of an orange. In fact, this is the orange's orange. One taster described its flavor as "classic", and it had a strong citrusy smell or smell associated with orange sprays. It was not too sweet, with some astringency on the tongue. One taster found it close to a grapefruit. As I have noted before, lots of seeds.

3. Clementine - "Darling" - Spain - Also from Trader Joe's - The orange itself has an intense odor, so strong one person called it medicinal. The flesh of this orange was much firmer than the previous two, but the flavor was also much fainter than the first two. One taster described the orange as watery. This was the least favorite of two tasters.

4. Navel - Heller - Florida - This orange had a pronounced lemony scent, and the taste was also more sour than the above oranges with just the barest bit of sweetness at the finish. This orange has a very meaty and pulpy fruit. The pleasure of this orange comes from the way it feels in the mouth. A texture orange not a taste orange.

5. Organic Tangerine - Florida (Not an orange per se!) - We all picked up melon aromas from this fruit, one taster found it smelled a lot like a cantaloupe The flavor itself was flat and overly sweet. Two of the tasters found this their least favorite.

Evil Ronnie wrote:VI,

I saw Texas star ruby grapefruits yesterday at the Dominicks in Greektown. I also bought a bag of them last week at the Jewel at Clark and Division.

We use them at the club all winter, until April or so. It seems like the Florida reds are cutting into their market.

Evil,

Actually, I'm sure I've confused these two types of grapefruit in the past. Is there anything in particular you prefer abotu the Texas Star ruby? Less acidic, maybe?

Hammond