What are Cara Cara Navel Oranges?

What’s that pink-fleshed orange you’ve been seeing in the produce section of your local grocery store this winter? Not a blood orange, surely? The flesh of a blood orange is usually quite red in color, anywhere from bright ruby to deep maroon. The vivid shade of the blood orange’s flesh is due to anthocyanin pigments, but the Cara Cara Navel Orange gets its softer-toned, rose-colored flesh from lycopene, the same antioxidant that gives the tomato its red color.

How are Cara Cara Oranges Different Than Classic Navel Oranges?

When you think of Navel Oranges, you probably envision the classic citrus fruit known as the Brazilian orange, the Washington Navel Orange or the Heirloom Navel (at Hale, we sell them as Grove Navels). A sweet orange variety, the perennial favorite is arguably the world’s most popular citrus fruit and originated as a spontaneous mutation on an orange tree in an orange grove located in a Brazilian monastery in the late 1700s. Its sweet, vibrant flavor made it an instant hit, but because it’s seedless, the classic Navel Orange needs to be propagated through grafting. Navel Oranges get their name from the undeveloped “twin” fruit found opposite their stem end, which resembles a human bellybutton.

Cara Cara Oranges are a type of navel orange that are a cross between the Washington and Brazilian Bahia navel oranges. They are medium-sized, seedless, and have a sweet, low-acid flavor that’s a little easier on sensitive stomachs. Cara Cara Oranges are a variety of red-fleshed navel orange.

Cara Cara Navel Oranges are similar to Classic Navel Oranges in many ways. For instance:

• Both varieties are sweet, “winter” oranges
• Both varieties are seedless and must be cultivated through grafting
• Both varieties have a characteristic indentation resembling a human navel opposite their stem-end
• Both varieties are round, medium-sized citrus fruits (3″-4.5″ in diameter)
• Both varieties have bright orange rinds with a slightly pebbly texture and a spongy white pith underneath, next to the flesh (the pith is full of nutrients)
• Both varieties have around 10-11 segments
• Both varieties are used in a variety of applications, including snacking, salads, beverages, and in sweet and savory entrees and desserts

But what makes Cara Cara Navels stand out from their classic cousins? While it’s true that they come into season a little later (first appearing in January, as opposed to November like the classic navel), the Cara Cara’s real claim to fame is its firm but juicy flesh, which is rosy pink in color instead of yellow orange and lower in acidity, making it less tart than regular navel oranges with a slight floral flavor reminiscent of red raspberries, blackberries, cherries and cranberries.

How to Use Cara Cara Oranges

From salads and beverages to sauces and desserts, the flesh, juice and zest of Cara Cara Oranges can be used anywhere classic Navel Oranges are used. They’re especially desirable in salads, cocktails, fruit salsas and as a garnish for seafood, poultry and vegetable dishes, where their jewel-toned flesh and juice make an attractive contrast to other ingredients.

Fresh-squeezed Cara Cara Navel Orange juice is also a wonderful addition to a special brunch. In addition to the unique color, the citrus fruit’s limonin content is confined to its rind, so the juice doesn’t become bitter when exposed to oxygen like that of the juice from a classic Navel Orange (the flesh of which contains limonin). The lack of acidity is easier on the digestive system than other citrus fruits, while the sweet, berry-like flavor makes the Cara Cara Navel a natural for many dessert dishes.

Being seedless, Cara Cara Navel Oranges are wonderful cut up into salads, smoothies and your morning yogurt. They’re also great in a wide variety of dishes…below are just a few recipes we’ve collected that specifically call for using Cara Cara Navels (keep in mind Cara Caras can be used in any recipe that calls for Navel Oranges – you’ll love the way their unique color brightens up your dish!):

• Hale Groves Cara Cara Orange Champagne Marmalade
• Hale Groves Spicy Cara Cara Orange Applesauce
• Hale Groves Cara Cara Orange Margarita
• Hale Groves Cara Cara Orange Kale Salad
• Hale Groves Cara Cara Orange Muffins
• Hale Groves Pork Medallions in Cara Cara Orange Onion Sauce
• Cara Cara Orange Bundt Cake

Nutritional Value of Cara Cara Oranges

It’s no secret that the classic Navel Orange is a superfood, packed with vitamin C, flavonoids, dietary fiber, folate and potassium, and low in calories to boot. Not only is regularly including Navel Oranges in your diet likely to boost your immune system, doing so also aids your digestion and helps protect you from heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes, and may even improve your memory.

As you may have guessed, Cara Cara Navels are comparable to classic Navels in terms of nutrition, but in some areas they have an edge: the Cara Cara Navel actually contains 20% more vitamin C than a Washington Navel, which is hugely beneficial when it comes to guarding against damaging free radicals and helping prevent heart disease and certain cancers. Vitamin C is also required for the formation of collagen (which is great for your skin, teeth and bones), and is very important for maintaining a steady metabolism and optimum hydration.

Not only do Cara Cara Navel Oranges contain more vitamin C than regular navels – they also contain 30% more vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for maintaining healthy vision, skin, teeth, bones and reproductive organs.

Finally, Cara Cara Navels contain something regular Navels don’t – lycopene. The same carotenoid that gives this orange its pink hue, lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that’s been linked to a decreased risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and macular degeneration (a disease that causes vision loss as you age).

Why You Should Order Cara Cara Navel Oranges from Hale Groves

Why order fruit online when you can get it from your local grocery store? While Cara Caras are more readily available than they used to be, you still won’t get the quality and freshness from a chain grocery that you will with Hale Groves.

Making the best oranges, grapefruit and other fruits available to our customers is our passion at Hale Groves. Our citrus is better because our standards are higher than those of most conventional produce growers. The fruit you find at a chain grocery store is chosen by what’s available; but Hale takes steps to bring you only the best available.

Picked during the peak of the season from premium trees, our Cara Cara Oranges are higher in natural sugars for the finest flavor and never see the inside of a distribution center. Carefully inspected and packaged by hand, we send your Cara Caras to you straight from our farms to your table…that’s “The Hale Difference!”

Storing Cara Cara Oranges

To ensure maximum enjoyment of your order of Cara Cara Navel Oranges from Hale Groves, store them in the refrigerator where they’ll maintain their flavor, texture and juiciness for three weeks or even longer. (Storing citrus on a countertop shortens its shelf life, particularly while piled up so the air can’t circulate around it.)

Storing your Cara Cara Navel Oranges properly can help them keep their just-picked flavor for as long as six weeks. The best temperature for storing your Cara Cara Oranges is around 42°F. Transfer your oranges to a mesh bag. Don’t overfill it – you want to encourage airflow around the fruit to help prevent mold growth and softening. It also helps to turn the fruit occasionally.

If you like leaving your Cara Cara Oranges out on the countertop so they’re more readily available to the family, make sure they’re completely dry before loosely stacking them in a bowl or basket out of direct sunlight. Don’t leave them out for more than a few days (you can always take your oranges out of the fridge for half an hour before eating it if you prefer enjoying them at room temperature).