Florida Navel Oranges

Florida Navel Oranges are loved for their incredible sweetness and rich, delicious juice. For generations, Florida Navel Oranges have been a much loved and much appreciated holiday tradition. Available during the holiday season, they make a great gift at Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year.

Florida Navel Oranges are seedless, thin-skinned and easy to peel and section, which makes them great for fresh eating.

Like all Florida oranges, Navels are rich in Vitamin C and other nutrients. When used for juice they should be fresh-squeezed right before drinking for the best flavor and highest Vitamin C content.

Availability

Our Florida Navel Oranges are available November through January.

History

The Navel Orange originally came to Florida from Brazil in the mid-19^th century.

A paper entitled "The Bahia or Washington Navel in the United States" by W. A. Taylor of the USDA, written in 1902, refers to a "very good illustration of such an orange" that appears in a "Natural History of Trees and Fruits published at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1662." Taylor speculates that the Navel variety was likely known for centuries, having appeared as bud variations in widely separated regions and then propagated through grafting.

Citrus, A Historyby Pierre Laszlo (The University of Chicago Press, 2007) indicates that the Florida Navel Orange was first discovered in Brazil in the late 18^th century as a chance hybrid found on a branch of a Selecta sweet orange tree in Bahia. It was immediately embraced for its sweetness, juiciness and seedless nature. Due to the formation on the blossom end of the fruit that looks like a human navel, it was called the Umbigo, Portuguese for "navel." This formation is actually a second, immature orange that forms in the fruit opposite the stem.

It was the Bahia, or Umbria, orange that was first brought to Florida around 1840. It is generally thought these original trees were all destroyed by soldiers during the Seminole Indian war and were no longer found in Florida until the USDA distributed Bahia Orange trees, also called Washington Navels, in 1873. However a letter to the editor of the New York Times was published on May 4, 1902 under the headline "First Seedless Oranges - A Writer Says Florida Grew Them Before California." In it Thomas D. James writes that he planted an orange grove near Palatka, Florida in the early 1870's that "had a number of trees budded with Bahia or navel oranges."  He says the buds came from local fruit-bearing trees that must have been planted before the USDA sent the saplings to Florida in 1870.

Because the Navel orange is propagated by taking cuttings from a tree and grafting them onto root stock, the Florida Navel Oranges we enjoy today are likely direct descendants of the Umbigo found in Bahia, Brazil over a century ago.

Florida Navel Oranges - Nutritional Information

One whole navel orange, about 3" in diameter contains:

• 1 g protein
• 11.6 g carbohydrates
• 2.4 g dietary fiber
• 65 mg calcium
• 283 mg potassium
• 26 mg phosphorus
• 340 IU vitamin A
• 105 mg vitamin C
• 86% water

Recipe for Florida Navel Oranges: Spinach and Orange Salad

Combine orange juice, olive oil, vinegar and pepper in mixing bowl and set aside. In large bowl, combine spinach, orange sections, and onions. Add dressing to salad and toss. Top with nuts if desired. Serves 6.