It seemed such a good idea at the time: you bought that pocket of oranges, but now they've started to mould and the next step is the compost heap. But if you're not up to peeling and eating them or making fresh juice, there are many other ways with this winter staple.
Our first orange and lemon orchards originated in the 1650's when seedling trees from St. Helena Island were planted on Jan van Riebeeck's farm Borsheuvel, situated above what is today the Cape Town suburb of Claremont. Another 1 200 odd trees were planted at the Cape of Good Hope's company garden at the foot of Table Mountain. Van Riebeeck's journal reveals that these first plantations yielded fruit seven years later in 1661, over 100 years before citrus orchards were planted in California.
Today, South Africa is the world's third largest exporter of citrus, after USA and Spain. This year the SA industry, which employs close on 100 000 people, is expected to export more than 60 million cartons of citrus fruit worth R2.5 billion.
Oranges have a high vitamin C content and supply protein, fibre, folate, calcium and iron. Their high potassium content makes them useful to counterbalance the excess sodium in chips and other salty snacks popular with children and adults alike.
There are a number of varieties, but those we most commonly use are Valencia and Navel. Valencia oranges are almost exclusively used used to make orange juice. The medium-size fruit has a sturdy
peel and juice that is tart-sweet and deeply coloured. If you're not juicing them, section or slice the
fruit and use in salads, pancakes or duck a l'orange.
Navels (so-called presumably because of this fruit's distinctive feature of having a small secondary fruit embedded in the apex of the primary fruit) is the world's most popular eating orange. It's a large fruit with sturdy, pebbled rind that makes it easy to peel and section. Navels are perfect for packing in lunches or picnic baskets and make an excellent addition to salads and salad dressings or, peeled in to sections, added to yoghurt or whole-grain breakfast cereal.
When shopping for citrus, bigger isn't better as smaller fruit usually has a more intense flavour than large fruit. In general, you should ignore the colour of the peel, bright orange fruit doesn't taste better than fruit that has a yellow or speckled skin. You can almost choose fruit with your eyes closed, selecting those that feel dense and heavy in your hands. Heavy fruit is juicier and more flavourful.
Oranges are just as versatile as lemons, and every bit as appropriate to main courses or starters as they are to desserts, even 17th century English cookbooks recommended the use of their juice in soups, stews and sauces. They're a great catalyst to flavour, just think how a splash of orange juice can alter the taste of grilled fish or chicken, as well as being a key ingredient in their own right.
Oranges can be used in a vast array of dishes, both savoury and sweet, and like all citrus fruits they have the property of thickening the sauces and are ideal for game, duck and fatty meats as well as fish. Orange juice, when added in small amounts, affords a unique taste to meat marinades or salad vinaigrettes. Oranges also make of the most delicious drinks: the liqueurs Curacao, Cointreau, Grand Marnier and Triple Sec are loved above many others.
Here are a couple of quick ideas to get that pocket used up in no time:
When making couscous, soak in hot orange juice, and add some raisins, sultanas and slivered almonds.
Chop a Navel orange in sections and mix with jalapeno peppers and fresh coriander leaves to make a sweet-hot salsa for fish or grilled chicken.
Spread some orange gratings over the buttered surface of the dish you'll be using to make pasta au gratin in the oven, it creates the most wonderful flavour.
For the juiciest chicken, place three chicken breasts in a microwave dish, cover with orange juice and cook on high for 10 minutes. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with sliced almonds and chopped garlic, and brown under a hot grill or over hot coals until done.
Add some orange rind to casseroles and stews, with a split vanilla pod.
Slice peeled grapefruit and oranges into rounds, grate over some
palm sugar (available from Asian food stores) and add a big squeeze of lemon juice. Top with full cream vanilla-flavoured yoghurt and chopped nuts.
When roasting a chicken, squeeze fresh orange juice all over and
stuff the insides with the orange halves, a garlic clove or two and
two bay leaves. Season and roast as normal. When done, thicken the juices
with a little flour and serve with potatoes.
Add some orange peel to a tea caddy for fragrant tea.
Make a quick and delicious side dish to serve with grilled or roast meat or chicken, or as an accompaniment to an Asian meal. Heat 30ml sunflower oil, add 450g sliced or julienned carrots and 5ml freshly grated ginger. Stir-fry for two minutes, then add a bunch of sliced spring onions and two peeled and segmented oranges. Stir gently for one minute before adding 30ml light soya sauce and 80ml roasted peanuts.
In a screw-top jar combine a quarter cup olive oil, a teaspoon orange peel, a quarter cup orange juice, one tablespoon mustard and a dash or two of freshly ground pepper. Cover and shake well to mix and serve with fruit, vegetable, or seafood salads.
Need more things to do with those oranges? Click on our selection below. Enjoy!
Softening and zesting oranges Pop oranges or lemons into the microwave for a minute or two, this will soften them and let their juices flow. If you don't have a zester tool, use a flat grater: rub the surface of the orange backwards and forwards on the fine grid 2 to 3 times to remove the zest without any of the bitter white pith. You could also remove some of the bitter taste from rind strips by blanching them in boiling water for a couple of minutes.
