Tim Samoff // Weblog (old)

March 08, 2005

Bad oranges...

I’ve been pretty displeased with the oranges that we bought a couple of weeks ago from . Especially since recently visiting California, where oranges are the size of cantelopes and taste like nector poured down from heaven, but I digress. I mean, how could I complain? We bought the oranges from ALDI for God’s sake… But, in all honesty, ALDI oranges are usually pretty good.

Anyway, the oranges we bought a couple of weeks ago are tasty, dont get me wrong. And the size of them (a smidge larger than a tangerine, but definitely an orange) doesn’t really bother me that much… At least while they still have their peel on. What bothers me is that fact that whoever picked these oranges must have had either very little patience or way too much fertilizer on their hands. Why you ask?

These oranges have peels that are at least 9 mm to 12 mm thick!

I listed a couple of reasons above: (1) if you pick an orange before it is in its prime, you stunt its developmental growth, meaning that the orange “meat” will not fully grow into its “skin”; (2) using too much nitrogen-based fertilizer can create discoloration and/or thick skin. Other reasons can include poor fertilization, clay-like soil, not enough water, etc.

In any case, as you will see from the photographs below, my orange (a Navel that began at a size closer to a Valencia when its peel was still on) ended up the size of a Tangerine after it’s thick peel was peeled.

Please farmers: I understand that the demand is high, but let us have oranges that have reached their fullest potential. If not, I may just have to go back to apples for a while.

Posted at 08:31 am

Trackback Link: