All posts in Fruit Facts

Adding citrus to your everyday meals is a fantastic way to liven up your dishes and get a nice nutritional boost too. Even novice cooks can easily add citrus to existing recipes. One thing to remember when you are starting to cook with citrus is to always use fresh citrus. Bottled citrus juices do not have the kind of rich, vibrant flavors that fresh citrus fruits have. Make sure that you have some fresh citrus fruits on hand in the kitchen everyday to use when cooking. Experimenting with new flavors and adding citrus into recipes can be a lot of…

Clementines are a variation of a Mandarin orange, and are usually smaller and sweeter than traditional Mandarin oranges. The growing season for Clementines is usually from the middle of November until the end of January, which makes Clementines perfect for holiday gift baskets and holiday stockings. But Clementines don’t have to be reserved for holiday gifts. They are wonderfully sweet and tangy and are a great addition to many everyday meals that you might not think about. With all of the health benefits that Clementines have it’s worth making an effort to get more Clementines into your daily diet when…

The mandarin orange family, or Citrus reticulata, is a class of citrus fruit known for its thin and easily peeled exterior. Tangerines are actually a part of this group although the name is interchangeable with the name mandarin orange. The tangerine is generally a red-orange skinned variety of the mandarin orange. The clementine, a ‘Class II’ tangerine, has become the most popular because not only is this fruit easy to peel, it is also known as the seedless tangerine. Clementine trees can grow to as talk as 25 feet tall with age with a full round tree foliage and thin…

Throughout history oranges have symbolized health and prosperity, and we hope that this is exactly what you will find every time you open a box of Hale oranges. Citrus Throughout History The orange has had an interesting history dating back almost 20 million years. In ancient times oranges were the fruit of royalty, and it was not until the 20th century that they became accessible to the masses. Throughout the ages, the healing power of citrus has been considered so powerful that the juice and peel of the citrus has been prescribed as the antidote to an array of poisons.…

Spanish explorers brought the orange to America in the early 16th century. Legend has it Ponce del Leon himself planted the first citrus trees in Florida as he searched for the Fountain of Youth. Oranges, lemons and later grapefruit were planted by farmers in port cities like St. Augustine and Tampa Bay. But only the orange became popular with local populations. Citrus groves were a fairly common site in Florida by the 19th century, but shipping costs were prohibitive. Farmers had to load Florida oranges in crates and send them north on horse-drawn wagons. If the shipments were being sent…

Use a basket of fruit to help keep your diet on track no matter how busy your schedule is. Eating right is a huge challenge for millions of people today, but not because they don’t know how to eat healthy. Most of the time people end up eating junk food because they are too busy to cook healthy meals or grab healthy snacks. Or, they think they are. It’s true that for many professionals and for parents who spend hours every day commuting to and from work, driving kids to and from school and lessons and sports and shopping for…