Dockside Chat - Picking the Right Orange

Easy to peel and sweet...
Is there a trick to knowing either by variety or by color/feel/appearance of the orange?
The ones we get in the supermarket are hit or miss..

My parents usually ship some up when they go down over the winter..Some are downright green in color but are the sweetest ever.

Valencias are a good sweet orange with a lot of juice. But any orange if picked too early can be a little bitter.

I like the ones that are sort of spherical in shape, and have a color that is like you mixed yellow and red together. The ones that have seeds are juicy, but the ones without have a citrusy sweet watery substance that comes out when you squeeze them.

Try Mixon fruit farms in Bradenton Fl. I have never got a bad sphere from there.

Navels....easy to spot, easy to peel and tastes great!

Navels....easy to spot, easy to peel and tastes great!


Agreed....they are sweet even when greenish and could actually dry out when too ripe. Maybe more of a CA crop and not a FL money crop but we had a few trees around the house just to eat.

Navels....easy to spot, easy to peel and tastes great!

Yep! The best eating orange. ripens early.

One more good one is called a tangelo. It's a mix between a tangerine and a grapefruit!

They are easy to peel and have a unique, sweet taste. Hard to tell them apart from oranges, but they do seem to take on a darker color. Mostly smooth, but some versions are a little pebbled...

My favorites are honeybells. Can't wait until next month!

cuties are an excellent small sweet easy peeler but only offered for a limited time.

Now I grew up in the Indian river citrus area. Tangelos and honeybells are a recent hybrid. So I just looked up "honeybell"..it's just another name for Tangelo. I didn't know that..........

Is a Mineola Tangelo different? They have that big bump that you can use to tear open the peel. They are the best citrus ever IMHO. They seems to vary as the season goes on. In the best case the skin is thin, easy to peel and has almost no seeds.

my honeybells are on the tree waiting for the picking!

Spanish clementines. Get em in a 5# box at Publix. Hands down, bar none the sweetest easiest to eat piece of citrus anywhere and they are seedless.

While you are at it try a pummelo.

I must be the oddball.
I like the Temples. Hard to find anymore though.

Butch

I must be the oddball.
I like the Temples. Hard to find anymore though.

Butch
Those were a family favorite when i was a kid..Dont see em much now.

WHen clementines are sweet the are really good but they seem to be sour more often than sweet. Kumquats, anyone?:Q