The cold season is amongst us in the northern hemisphere - bundling-up is a necessity. If your immune system is not up to snuff you’re late in the game but here is the good news. There are a few last minute tricks to steal yourself against the flu season soon coming, which is evident with every drug store in town boasting flu shots.
It’s not a bad idea to jump on the raw pressed juice wagon. Lately there has been lots of media attention about cold-pressed raw juice places and their products. Those juice places seem to have plenty of fans and followers because they are strong believers that juicing has a significant place in their daily diet. And yes you can juice your own on a centrifuge type of juicer, but in comparison with raw-pressed juices, which need rather expensive machinery, they’re the losers.
And then there is OJ
Everyone’s favorite OJ is truly a predecessor in the juicing world. And one of the best features is that you don’t even need electricity to do the juicing. A typical bar/hand juicer does the trick for the daily glass of OJ. The simplest model can be bought for around ten bucks or if it takes up too much space in your kitchen drawer, squeeze oranges directly into a glass by hand. The fact is that a glass of OJ a day will strengthen your immune system and will give you a head start into flu season.
Which oranges are the best for juicing?
Today’s marketplace offers us a broad selection of oranges and it can get confusing sorting out which ones are the best for juicing. The following is a list of the most common oranges you may find in your local market.
Navel
Season: November – May
About: Navel oranges are seedless, and they peel and separate easily. They are the status quo eating orange with pleasant sweetness. A terrific fit for savory salads e.g., fennel & orange. Ferments quickly when juiced – so drink the same day of juicing.
Valencia
Season: February – October
About: The Valencia orange is also known as a summer orange because this variety grows from winter through the summer months, until the end of October. They’re thin skinned and have some seeds. Valencia oranges are the classic juice orange.
Tangerine
Season: December – May
About: Compared with oranges, tangerines are smaller. They peel easily and have a bright sweet flavor profile and make excellent juice.
Seville
Season: December – January
About: The Seville is a bitter/sour orange, which is a good cooking orange, especially when making marmalade. Their acidity holds up during the cooking process
Blood
Season: November – March
About: A specialty orange suited better for Halloween with that name. Blood oranges show off their deep red fruit flesh and make sweet juice with pleasant tartness. The juice tends to ferment quickly, so drink the same day it was pressed.
Blood oranges are very appealing visually in savory and sweet salads when peeled with a knife and cut into “filets” e.g., beet & blood orange salad. They’re particularly high in carotenes hence the deep-red color, and contain an excellent amount of free radical fighting anthocyanins.
Mandarins
Season: January - May
About: Small and ideal for snacks or for the lunch box. A slight draw-back is their seeds. They are mildly acidic yet sweet in flavor and yield a sweet juice though they are more of an eating orange.
Cara Cara
Season: January - May
About: Super-sweet with low acidity a delicious eating orange with great zing, some varieties have seeds, a pretty-in-pink colored flesh.
Kumquats
Season: January – March
About: About 1 to 2-inch long oval shaped oranges. Enjoy the whole fruit including seeds and the peel. Cut into ringlets for fruit salads and make interesting marmalade. I love them in citrus dessert preparations for garnishing plates. Sorry no juicing here.
….and in case you always wanted to know….some orange lingo:
Pith: the white membrane on a citrus fruit - under the skin. Leave the white membrane on the fruit as this contains bioflavonoids, which helps the body absorb and use vitamin C.
If you absolutely hate the pith – pop the citrus fruit in a 450F hot oven for 10 minutes – no white membrane will be left on it.
Bergamot: An essence of the fruit’s skin is extracted which gives an unmistakable scent to tea and is used in cosmetics.
Navel oranges: They’re named because of the belly-button formations opposite the stem side. The bigger the navel the sweeter the orange will be.
Favorite flavor: after chocolate and vanilla, orange is the world’s favorite flavor!
One orange, two oranges…no there are actually 600 different varieties of oranges, this list above is just a sampling!
