Pirate Pals & Mountain Climbing Must Haves- Orange

Oct 11

Hello and welcome to another episode of Rooted! This week we’re talking about a fruit responsible for keeping away scurvy and spiders alike- orange.

Oranges are actually in season right about now, so it’s a great time to snag some and spot them if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where they grow and thrive.

Oranges are an evergreen tree (a small one, but still a tree) in the Rutaceae or citrus family. When it comes to botanical names, this family is a little funky because technically all citrus is the same plant, it’s just been hybridized the same way squash has been! To learn more about that you can tune into grapefruit, where we really went deep into the history of citrus.

When it comes to oranges we have a few different varieties, mostly stemming from Asia, including sweet, valencia, blood, and navel oranges. We’ll get into those distinct differences in a second, but first, let’s explore what they all have in common.

Oranges across the board kind of take FOREVER to fruit. They blossom in the summer, then work all through fall to eventually produce fruit mid-winter. These fruits, known as hesperidium, is essentially a berry but with a twist- in this case literally, as the twist is a protective rind that forms as a modified wall around the ovary (all fruit is ovaries), then the bitter pith to try and prevent critters from snacking on the fruit too early. Eventually as the fruit grows it develops thousands of tiny juice-filled sacs, which provide nourishment for the fruit seed while also helping to keep the seed safe from rot. This also DOES entice some things to snack on the oranges, which isn't ALL bad, as it does help to spread the seed.

Orange blossoms are so prolific and desired that they have kind of become their own thing in some ways. They are thick white star shaped flowers with a shock of sticky yellow pollen in the center. They fill the air with one of my favorite scents, and are often used in perfumes and foods across middle eastern cuisine.

Going back to the different kinds of oranges, the main differences are going to be uses, flavor, and shape.

When you think of oranges you can buy at the store, the most common types you;ll see are sweet oranges and navel oranges. Sweet oranges came first, and are honestly pretty much the most generic orange. Next up are navel oranges, that have more of an oblong shape and thicker peel, making them a bit easier to transport and keeping them fresh ever so slightly longer, these guys tend to be a bit more popular if you’re looking for a grab and go snack, with sweet oranges being more commonly used in juicing etc.

Blood oranges are very similar to sweet oranges, but have been developed to have a deep red flesh and a much darker peel. They are a bit sweeter than typical sweet oranges, and are usually a little pricier for being a bit fancier.

Additionally things like clementines, tangelos, and even grapefruit are all technically orange hybrids.

Honestly, citrus is it’s own rabbit hole that someone could probably do a full podcast on all on their own- there are all kinds of cross overs, botanical oddities, and so many other very complex and multifaceted things to dig into here- but honestly we do not have time to dig into all of that in this episode, and I’m not sure I am the best person to take you through all of it!

Anyway, now that we’ve at least scratched the surface on the botany front, let's get into a bit about how oranges rose to global popularity, spreading all the way from sun-soaked Spain to swampy Florida.

While a lot is still unknown about the true origins of oranges, we know they likely started as a super bitter guys somewhere in what is now south eastern ish china, where it was used in many foods and seen as a sort of fancy food, growing alongside people, being gifted and traded across asia, through the middle east, then eventually into all of Europe due to its ability to keep well and unique flavor. They were seen as very posh and fancy fruits, being grown almost exclusively in private conservatories known as “orangeries”- gotta love 15th century europe and their hyper specific fixations.

Once citrus groves hit Spain, even scum of the earth Christopher Columbus started to really love them, and insisted he just HAD to bring them on his quest to find the so-called new world.

As they spread across the Americas, starting in what is now florida and then slowly making their way to arizona and California, where botanist Archibald Menzies fell in love with them, eventually leading an expedition in the pacific where he grew them in little pots on the ship's deck and gifting them to leaders across the pacific islands…..probably one of the only even kind of good things we brought there- but they also came with fruit flies so honestly still a flop.

As you’ve likely guessed, oranges are kind of steeped in symbolism.

Usually they are used to symbolize fertility, wealth, and abundance- partially because they bloom in winter, partially because they are so tasty and good for you, and partially because of their color, which can represent the sun or gold depending on which you like more.

In terms of mythology- I have good news and bad news! The good news- there is some! The bad news- most of it We have actually covered in our apple and pomegranate episodes, as oranges were also sometimes called golden apples, and sometimes people meant pomegranate when they said apple- so hercules going on a crazy smuggling mission and aphrodite/venus making a disemboweled adonis into a tree.

Now onto medicine- Probably one of the best known medical applications for Oranges is beating scurvy. While most of us kind of associate this with pirates, the truth is that LOTS of people were getting scurvy back then, but it was most notable in sailors or people who spent a lot of time at sea because they didn’t have many (if ANY) fresh food, which made it all happen so much faster.

Scurvy is an illness ultimately caused by vitamin c deficiency, with symptoms including general weakness and irritability, joint and muscle pain (especially in the legs), bleeding gums, loose teeth, and eventually blue and purple spots under the skin that may look like bruising. If left untreated scurvy can lead to serious infection.

When it came to sailing the seven seas, the British Royal Navy really felt like scurvy was kind of harming their vibe, so they set out to solve the problem once and for all.

They had noted that sailors seemed to do best when they had fresh fruit available, and especially well when they could eat citrus, so they were determined to figure out what was the BEST citrus and go all in on that…

Cut to a few years later, and James Lind determines that the best fruit to send them with is going to be limes, because they are the highest in ascorbic acid- which is what they thought kept the scurvy away….however, it became painfully obvious that this was incorrect when their team that had been sent on a years long expedition all contracted scurvy a few months into the journey, despite eating their lime rations exactly as prescribed.

This is because, as you probably guessed, ascorbic acid does absolutely nothing in terms of providing us with vitamin C, and limes are actually the WORST citrus for Vitamin C, containing 50% less in an ounce for ounce comparison with lemons and oranges. Couple that with the fact that limes are also smaller and you have a recipe for disaster,,,or scurvy, I guess.

But what exactly do we ACTUALLY need vitamin C for, and what else could oranges help with?

Vitamin c is a key nutrient that we actually can't make ourselves- we HAVE to absorb it through our food. Our bodies use it to create blood vessels, collagen, and cartilage, plus it helps our healing process by helping to fight off free radicals! That’s also how they got their reputation for being good for eyes- as vitamin C has been linked to preventing muscular atrophy in our eyes as we age.

Oranges also help us to absorb iron and are a good source of potassium, which helps with our overall cardiovascular health.

Historically oranges- especially the peels- were used in cold and flu remedies, as they can help to thin and expel phlegm, increase appetite, and help to mask some of the super bitter tastes from cough remedies at the time. Plus, the scent of oranges has been proven to make us feel just a little bit more energized, which certainly couldn’t hurt!

Obviously people have loved putting oranges in food for ages- partially because they are tasty, and because they are so good for you! Especially in winter. I won’t bore you with the literal thousands of ways oranges can be used, but instead I’ll share a few fun options I found!

The first one is obviously going to have to be a plug for our OWN mocktail that pairs nicely with this episode and next weeks- the scrooge- it’s a twist on a screwdriver (hence the name) where you make a quick clove syrup to mix in with your orange juice (you can also add vodka to make it a cocktail, or a cannabis tincture if that’s more your vibe)

Of course, if you want a traditional cocktail, the gimlet was literally created because finding a way to get sailors to get their citrus was WAY easier if you added booze!

The next one is a cursed 1950’s recipe bc OF COURSE it is for a gelatinous pyramid of chicken and chives known as tagine….basically you’re gonna juice a couple oranges, mix that into some activated gelatin, and then pour that into a mold with chopped up chicken and veggies- sounds…interesting.

But I couldn't just leave us on that note, so to remind ourselves not EVERYONE was cooking on quaaludes, I will share that the top recipe that same year was Orange kiss me cake- a pretty traditional pound cake with walnuts, raisins, and plenty of rich orange flavor. Should we make a video?

Speaking of videos, you may have seen some healthtok girls telling you that you NEED to eat the peel to be able to get all of the nutrients and benefits, but i'm here to say if that’s not your thing you do NOT need to gnaw on a hunk of bitter outsides- instead you can always channel your inner cottage witch and make an oleo sacrum, infused honey, or copy the early everest explorers and make a marmalade.

And finally- we have to talk about some pop culture moments…or really just the color (of course). I toyed with putting a chicken egg joke here, but this is a serious podcast- clearly- so we’ll just stick to the actual story, which is that the name of the color DOES come from the fruit, as before it was usually called “red yellow” which is more traditional in terms of how we develop the language of colors! That is an entirely separate rabbit hole that I’ll leave for YOU to explore.

In color theory, the color orange is fresh, youthful, and creative. It can improve mood, energy, and even increase your appetite. On the downside, oranges can also represent arrogance, and foolishness, but that’s way less fun.

There are probably about a billion more rabbit holes we could go down on this one, but I have already spent literally more than 24 hours on this one, so this is where we’re gonna leave it for now!

I hope next time you see oranges, you take a moment to really appreciate how complicated they are….and maybe you’ll stream our grapefruit, pomegranate, and apple episodes to hear some of the snippets we left out on this one. See you there!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(fruit)

https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-age-of-scurvy/#:~:text=These%20days%20we%20associate%20vitamin,limey%E2%80%9D%20for%20British%20sailors).

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-finally-know-where-oranges-and-lemons-come-from/

https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/resources/nutrition-education-materials/seasonal-produce-guide/oranges

https://www.pages.fr/en/content/41-orange-tree

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1a88363072674762b95e1ab4e7431fd0

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11533373/

https://health.mil/News/Articles/2022/01/10/The-British-Limeys-Were-Right-A-Short-History-of-Scurvy#:~:text=British%20'Limeys'%20and%20the%20Cure%20for%20Scurvy&text=The%20British%20began%20storing%20citrus,believe%20in%20the%20preventative%20treatment.

https://www.alcademics.com/2018/11/historical-info-about-scurvy-and-the-confusion-between-lemons-and-limes.html

https://lithub.com/how-trying-to-find-a-cure-for-scurvy-led-to-the-gimlet/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-finally-know-where-oranges-and-lemons-come-from/