Posted on 03/29/2010 2:55:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Nothing heralds the arrival of spring in Rome like the first whiff of a blood orange. Vendors cut open the succulent citrus fruits to show off the crimson flesh to shoppers at the Testaccio market near the Aventine hill (Piazza Testaccio, open Mon-Sat, 7am to 1pm) and the Biological Market in Trastevere (Via Cardinale Merry del Val, open the second Sunday of every month).
Coffee bars throughout Rome serve freshly squeezed blood orange juice, spremuta, with a touch of sugar. For an exceptional spremuta, swing by Caffè delle Arance, Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, 2 (arance means oranges in Italian).
Don't delay as the availability of the blood oranges is fleeting. Italians adhere strictly to the tradition of seasons—eating food when it is ripe or not at all. The idea that these sweet oranges will only be around for a few short weeks somehow makes them taste better.
Blood oranges, like most seasonal fruits, come with a long history of folklore. In the 17th century, when blood oranges popped up in Sicily, they were thought to come from poisoned trees. Instead they are the product of a natural mutation. The red color comes from anthocyanins, which give cherries and apples their red color. But the Sicilians, then under Arab control, thought they were harmful and avoided eating them for nearly half a century.
The theory eventually evolved that the oranges brought healing powers. Elderly Sicilians devour the oranges to ward off the late-winter flu and pregnant women rub the juice on their bellies to ward off stretch marks.
Across Italy, ice-cream makers produce blood orange gelato during this season, and restaurants lace traditional salads and dishes like duck and pork with the fruit.
(Excerpt) Read more at current.newsweek.com ...
Yummmm. Blood oranges. Brings back memories of childhood.
Yuck! There’s such a thing? With real blood???
No. It’s just a variety of orange.
On the outside, they look like a regular orange, maybe a little darker. But the flesh is deep, blood red. The juice will stain your fingers red. They are delicious.
ok, never mind then.
Blood orange is just a names. It’s basically an orange with red and mixed flesh, instead of just orange flesh. They have have a stronger, sometimes berry-like flavor. Cara Cara oranges are kind of pinkish flesh.
There is an Italian Blood Orange soda, I think marketed by Organics. Very good, tastes kind of like melted sherbert.
From Wiki:
Blood orange
The blood orange is a variety of orange (Citrus sinensis) with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus fruits.[1] Sometimes there is dark coloring on the exterior of the rind as well, depending on the variety of blood orange. The degree of coloration depends on light, temperature and variety.
The blood orange is often described as a hybrid between the pomelo and the tangerine, but it is actually just a mutation of a sweet orange.[2]
:)
Sounds good!
My dad was a produce manager years ago and a customer insisted he only wanted red grapefruit because they are sweeter.
Dad told him there is no difference and made a bet that he couldn’t tell them apart. He took the customer in the back, blindfolded him and fed him slices of grapefruit, while the customer said “that one’s white, that one’s red”.
Dad took off the blindfold and showed the guy he had only fed him the white, so the customer said I guess you were right.
Dad being a character, he then pointed to the corner and said “Not only that, but YOU”RE ON CANDID CAMERA!” The customer went nuts reacting to the (nonexistent) tv camera.
Mmmm, Cara Cara oranges are the best!
"Hey Apple!"
The Sicilians were not under Arab control in the 17th century. The Arabs left in the eleventh century.
Love those. The ones we get here are of course from California. But the original was a mutation, a single tree in Sicily about 200 years ago.
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