Meatless Mondays: Oranges
Have you gotten tired of oranges yet? This time of year, it seems like the only fresh fruit available in the dead of winter that doesn’t cost as much as a year’s college tuition are mealy apples, hard pears, and citrus. When I first moved to New York, I was obsessed with clementines, which are a sweet, seedless, easy-to-peel cousin of the tangerine. I probably would have fallen hard for them even if they weren’t introduced to me by my boss at the time, a woman I idolized and at whose swank Chelsea (the neighborhood in Manhattan, not the town where I grew up) apartment I was thrilled to finally see. Fifteen years ago, these five-pound boxes of sunshine were an absurdly priced $10 per box, but I bought them even when I couldn’t really afford them because they were just. that. good. They seem to be more widely available these days, and they come from all over the world now. Back in the day, the best clementines were from Spain. I’ve seen them lately from California and Morocco, but I think the Spanish ones are the most reliably sweet.
My current citrus obsession is blood oranges. I first had these when I was an exchange student in France, and I couldn’t believe that a citrus fruit could be so gorgeous and have such a complex flavor. Unlike the naval oranges I grew up with, blood oranges aren’t pure sugar; they can be just a little bit bitter. The peel is sometimes bruised with burgundy, sometimes it’s all orange. The flesh looks like the Vermilion Cliffs in northern Arizona: orange, pink, wine, and, of course, blood red variations make everything else seem dull by comparison. Blood orange juice makes the prettiest cocktails because the juice is more rose-colored than orange.
Most people think of oranges as being a great source of vitamin C, but it’s also rich in folate and potassium. Vitamin C supports your immune system and helps to build collagen, which supports your skin. Folic acid is essential for proper cell division and growth, and potassium can help to regulate blood pressure. Oranges are also high in soluble fiber, which can help lower cholesterol and fills up your belly to keep you full for longer. As with most fruits, it’s better to eat the whole fruit than to drink the juice if you’re watching your weight or your blood sugar. One eight-ounce glass of juice can be equivalent to 3-6 whole oranges. A medium-sized orange has 62 calories plus 3 grams of fiber compared to a cup of orange juice, which has 110 calories and no fiber.
My favorite way to eat oranges is just peeled and popped into the mouth, but I sometimes get fancy and slice them up into salads. My husband is anti-fruit in savory dishes, so I haven’t explored other ways of eating them. Cooking will destroy the vitamin C, but there are some classic recipes that call for cooked oranges. I’m thinking crepes suzette, duck a l’orange, etc. I’ve also had some cooked citrus in Asian food. How do you eat oranges? Or are you ready to never see another orange again and dying for the first strawberries of spring?