Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Delicious Flavors of Spring Citrus

 


Ahhh, spring! Temperatures are warming and the air is pleasant. Here in Florida, we are enjoying bug-free warm days and cool evenings, and a lack of hurricanes. The orange and jasmine blossoms are popping out, wafting sweet scents into the air. Both Easter and Passover are right around the corner, and so are the final weeks of citrus season until the Fall. Here at Florida Fruit Shippers, we wanted to make sure you get the best of the season's final picks for spring: Cara Cara Red Oranges, Navel Oranges, Easy Peel Tangerines, and Ruby Red Grapefruit. It's fruit salad time! 

Cara Caras


Want to make your dishes pop with color? The Cara Cara, also known as the Ruby Red or Scarlet Navel Orange, is your citrus of choice. They were first discovered in the 1970's in Venezuela at a place called Hacienda Cara Cara, and are now grown in Florida and California. Their bright red-orange flesh carries notes of strawberry and cranberry, and the extra carotenes that give the pulp such a deep hue carry a whole lot of lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant. In fact, regular consumption of high-lycopene foods has been shown to help prevent heart disease, prostate cancer, and vision loss. If you "cara cara" about your health, this seedless, easy-to-peel, delicious orange is for you! 

Navel Oranges

Navel Oranges have recently been the subject of a study by the University of Florida as research is developed to grow the best, healthiest, and sweetest fruit in their growing regions. It was discovered that the unique sweetness of this fruit is due to the higher organic content of the soil in the navel orange groves of both Florida and California, with the latter oranges having the longest season, through late May. So what is that "navel," anyway?  As it turns out, the navel oranges we eat today are exact clones of a single mutated orange that was discovered on a sour orange tree in Brazil by a Presbyterian missionary in the mid nineteenth century. The missionary was so intrigued by this odd and delicious orange with a tiny "baby" orange inside (the navel) that he propagated some little trees from a cutting. Over time, as more and more were propagated throughout growing regions in the Americas, navel oranges became a household standard.

Easy Peel Tangerines

While all citrus fruits are perfect for on-the-go snacking that comes in self-contained packaging, nothing can beat a variety that is easy to peel! It doesn't get easier than our tangerines, whose season continues through May. This particular type of tangerine--the FallGlo--is larger in size than most other varieties, though still identifiable by their distinct tangerine shape. This is because they are actually a genetic cross that is 5/8 tangerine, 1/4 orange, and 1/8 grapefruit!  In addition to easy snacking, these tangerines are easy to juice and have a richer flavor than traditional orange juice. 

Ruby Red Grapefruits
Nature creates mutations all the time. In the case of citrus, "spontaneous mutations" are particularly common and very natural due to the fragile genomes of these unique fruit types. Lucky for us, some of the yummier and more colorful citrus mutations in our history were discovered and propagated, such as the Navel Orange and the Ruby Red Grapefruit. In the 1800's, yellow and white grapefruits were grown in Florida and Texas, but were considered by most to be too sour. In 1929, a sweet mutation was discovered with red flesh, which was then propagated (via grafting a cutting onto another type of citrus tree) to create a regular supply of the beloved, sweeter Ruby Red Grapefruit that people enjoy regularly today. Best of all, unlike their white counterparts the Ruby Reds have a very high lycopene content and have been shown to help reduce cholesterol levels in humans.

So stock up on your end-of-season citrus and enjoy their health benefits and deliciousness through the spring!



Sources:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/recipes/2013/02/in-season-cara-cara-oranges
https://crec.ifas.ufl.edu/media/crecifasufledu/extension/extension-publications/2021/2021_august_navel.pdf
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103250589
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/CH075
https://uscitrus.com/blogs/citrus-delight-blog/mini-history-lesson-how-the-ruby-red-grapefruit-gave-us-the-rio-red

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Saturday, March 18, 2023

Daylight Savings Got You Down? Try Citrus!



Just last week, we were beginning to adjust to the longer days coming out of winter. But then, wham! Daylight Savings Time (DST) required us all to "spring forward"--aka set our clocks ahead--by one hour. If you're like the rest of us, you may still be adjusting to the jetlag-like effects of having our whole routine thrust one hour ahead, complete with the noticeable change in the times of sunrise and sunset. Combined with the ever-lengthening days as we greet the Spring Equinox, this adjustment may take awhile. Fortunately, we at Florida Fruit Shippers have some citrus-based solutions to help make your "DST Effect"--the jetlag you experience with the sudden time change--a little easier, so that you can once again sleep well at night and feel energized with the new time of the rising morning sun.

DST Effect Versus Jetlag

We all know what it feels like to wake up from a poor sleep: despite getting a few hours in, the whole day feels difficult to meet, and we often feel sluggish and compromised at work. While the DST (Daylight Savings Time) Effect is often called "social jetlag," it is actually different than jetlag because in the latter case, our bodies recognize the natural cues of the sun, thereby allowing us the ability to adapt in a more natural way. In the case of the DST Effect, we are being asked to keep our schedules the same while the time of sunrise and sunset are offset by a full hour in either direction. Research has shown this effect to be more stressful on the body than jetlag, as it forces us to adapt to unnatural rhythms. Hence, we experience more nights of poor sleep and more days of sluggishness, reduced concentration, lack of energy, and even--in some cases--depression.

Bring On the Tangelos


It's a good thing that Spring Tangelos are in season, because contained in these palm-sized, easy-to-peel fruits is a powerhouse of DST Effect-busting nutrition!  Tangelos are a unique cross between tangerines and grapefruits, and as such they are loaded with all the things a compromised, tired body needs: hydration, vitamin C, antioxidants, and minerals. They can also increase the amount of melatonin in our body by 47 percent, and contain B vitamins which help you sleep by reducing depression and anxiety, readjusting the sleep/wake schedule, and aiding in the production of the main sleep-inducing hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. Combined with their anti-inflammatory and gut-cleansing properties to help offset the physical stress of the DST Effect, eating a couple of tangelos per day will, amazingly, help you feel more energized during waking hours and better able to sleep at the sudden "new" time instigated by Daylight Savings.

What About Other Types of Citrus?



Typically, in-season citrus fruits like Spring Tangelos are the most nutrient-dense, namely because they are fresher and more packed with fresh-off-the-tree hydration and bioactive compounds. That being said, other types of citrus such as ruby red grapefruitsnavel oranges, and tangerines are still available, and Florida Fruit Shippers would never ship any fruit that isn't fresh from the groves! If you want to maximize the DST Effect counteracting powers of your fruits and eat fruits with the most concentrated nutrition in general, avoid grocery store citrus that has been subject to more transportation and time in boxes and on the shelves. This scenario amounts to more time away from their source trees and the resulting weakening of their bioactive compounds.

The clock may be springing forward, but you can spring back from the DST Effect with a little help from Florida citrus!


SOURCES:
https://www.gardenbetty.com/sleep-promoting-fruits-and-vegetables-that-help-you-spring-forward-easier/
https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-reasons-eat-oranges#
https://www.insider.com/best-worst-foods-for-jet-lag-2021-12
https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-11-06/recipe-a-smoothie-that-will-cure-your-jet-lag
https://sleepeducation.org/resources/daylight-saving-time
https://www.webmd.com/diet/what-to-know-seasonal-eating

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