Introduction
Oranges are considered to be world’s most popular fruits because of their presence in most of the country and the extent of their production across the world. The origin of these fruits is Asia. It is believed that these fruits originated from India and China as far back as 2200 BC and hence the name ‘Chinese apples’. They are subsequently thought to have been introduced to America by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Oranges were first cultivated for commercial purposes in the 19th century but they have been around for a lot longer. They are now produced in many countries including Israel, Brazil, USA, Australia and Japan among other countries.
Description
Oranges are the most popular of the citrus fruit family (Manay, 2001, p. 181). They are classified under the family rutaceae and their scientific name is Citrus sinensis. The fruit is a delectable pulpy and falls under same genus as grapefruits, lime, and lemons (Oranges, 2010). The fruit is a tropical and semi-tropical plant which is evergreen and begins to flower when about 5-8 m tall. The plant bear fruits in seasons (Hume, 2009, p. 29). There are three major varieties of oranges: the bitter ones, mandarin, and the sweet ones (Manay, 2001, p. 181). The fruit looks like a modified berry with a tough leathery rind. The skin contains very important volatile oils. The skin is bright yellow when ripe and mature.
The orange tree grows up to 15 meters and its branches are like a rounded crown. When young stems of an orange are usually semi-flexible, angled and twisted (Kimball 1999, p. 249). The leaves are ovate, evergreen and sometimes, indistinctly toothed solitary leaflets (Hume, 2009, p. 29). The leaves measure 2 ½ to 6 inches long and 1 to 3¾ inches wide. The plant produces sweetly fragrant white flowers in clusters of twos, threes, et cetera. They are saucer shaped with white petals. The seeds are irregularly shaped in the fruit compartments (Hume, 2009, p. 29).
Varieties
There are several varieties of oranges; there is the Washington Navel, Valencia variety, the Pineapple, and Hamlin variety which are commonly grown in the US (Ladaniya, 2008, p. 354). The Washington Navel is popular in Brazil, US, Spain, Japan, Paraguay, Spain, and South Africa (Colyer 2000, p. 157). The ease of peeling the fruit has made it popular with salads. The tree requires cool climate and below 3,300 ft above sea level. It was formerly known as Bahia as it is thought to have originated from there.
Trovita variety is a non-navel fruit with a number of variants like Texas navel, summer navel, and Thompson navel, among others (Ladaniya, 2008, p. 354). It is common in Brazil and California US (Colyer 2000, p. 157).
Valencia or late Valencia is also common in California. The variety is also grown in South Africa and Texas. This type originated from China and was brought to Europe and America by the Portuguese and Spanish voyagers (Ladaniya, 2008, p. 354).
Lue Gim Gong is thought to be a hybrid of Valencia and Mediterranean sweet developed by a Chinese farmer. Lue Gim Gong was awarded a medal for this hybrid production. Other varieties produced in the US include Rhode Red Valencia, Homosassa, Shamouti, Parson Brown, Pineapple, Queen, and Blood Oranges (Kalita, 2008, p. 56).
Production Steps for of Oranges
Oranges are mainly produced on commercial basis though some farmers also grow oranges on small plots for home consumption. In early farming practices, farmers used ladders to climb and pick the fruits by hand and loading in pails and shoulder sacks. They then emptied in transportation boxes (40.8kg). As farming advanced between the1900s to 1940s, farmers begun to use clippers and a lot of improvements have been made since then (Facts about Oranges, para 6). There is hope for conventional harvesting development to have mechanized methods or partly mechanized like tree shakers and air jets (Oranges, 2011, para. 5). At the moment, since oranges are grown for commercial purposes manual harvesting has been made easier by allowing them to fall or using abscission agents and fiberglass ladders which enable high speed to be attained while using relatively less force.
Culture: the plants are spaced at 25 X 25 ft as the standard. However, because of the need to facilitate manual work and the use of machinery, the spacing is often reduced so that application of fertilizers, spraying, pruning and harvesting can be efficient. Many farmers plant at 25 x 20 ft spacing (Hume 2009, p. 29).
The young trees should be cared for tentatively and freed from weeds for their first 2 to 3 years in the field (Facts about Oranges, para 6). Generally, the trees are fertilized with NPK immediately following harvesting. Extra nitrogen helps to develop the peel oil hence oranges are used in production of volatile oils which need more nitrogen (Yiu & Barta, 2006, p. 295). Potassium on the other hand reduces peel oil.
Climate: the best climate for the production of oranges is the subtropical climate. Oranges grow best when the temperatures are between 55º and 100º F (12.78º-37.78º C). During the cold season the plant goes into dormancy when temperatures are below 50º F (10º C). The oranges get damaged at freezing cold temperatures of –30º to 26º F (-1.11º-3.33º C). And many dies out-rightly when there is frost.
Oranges do well in production areas with roughly 40-60 inches or 100-150 cm of rain. Damper climates make the fruits to become sour. Drier climates makes the fruits have intense coloration than in humid climate (Kalita 2008, p. 69; Better Homes & Gardens 2008). Harvested oranges can be used in a number of ways. They can either be eaten raw or processed into value added products. Value addition includes sorting, grading, extraction of juice and other products (Mathews 1994, p. 2).
Quality control
Quality control is conducted throughout the process of growing and producing fresh oranges. The fruit must meet maturity requirements which are characterized in terms of color, texture and other factors The external characteristics of the orange fruit are summarized in the table below.
Table 1: Fresh orange citrus fruit:
Food Uses
Oranges can be primarily eaten as fresh fruits straight from the trees (Orange: Citrus sinensis 2010). They are also cut into pieces and served as salads during meal time. Cubans use old-fashioned apple peeler. In many cities, one can find pre-peeled oranges in plastic bags being sold to consumers like motorists on streets and groceries (Yiu & Barta, 2006, p. 299; Fruits and veggie guru, 2011). Sliced oranges are commonly served in restaurants and many people love orange salad packers.
In homes, oranges are used in fruit cups, gelatins and a number of desserts. Oranges are also used for garnishing cakes, chicken dishes and meats. Oranges are also squeezed in domestic preparation of fresh juices in homes. Oranges in south Africa also used for making soup (Snart, 2001, p. 5). They are peeled and then boiled in 3 pints of slightly sweetened water for about twenty minutes. The fruits are then strained and the juice is poured and served as soup together with lemon slices.
There has been an increased production of orange juice on commercial level where the produce is marketed in waxed cartons (Marketing Info, 2011, para, 3). This is facing competition from the frozen orange concentrates which are then diluted with water and served as juice.
Sliced oranges are also used as confections, the grated peels are used for flavoring food and pectin is a powerful preservative (Marketing Info, 2011, para, 3).
Nutritional Content
The nutritional value of orange is wide, as oranges contain energy in terms of proteins, fats, fiber, mineral (calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus etc), and vitamins (niacin, vitamin A, riboflavin, ascorbic acid). Table 2 shows the average nutritional content of oranges. Additionally, the fruits are a good source of vitamin C (Kimball, 1999, p. 124). They are also low in fat and sodium content (Osbeck, n. d.). They are hence used by many people for dieting. They are used for making juice which is common food stuff for breakfast and a desert for certain families after lunch. The fruits are also used for salads and for desert as well (Keller 2005, p. 12). According to the Australian Guide to Healthy eating, oranges are categorized under fruits. This category of food contains other readily food items as apricots, kiwi fruits, bananas, sultanas among others. Oranges also contains health properties, antioxidants bioactive components (Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, 1998).
Table 2: Nutritional Content of 100g Fresh Oranges
Conclusion
The production of oranges has increased tremendously because of emergence of more production areas. The world produces 105 million tones. The fruit is also preferred in terms of health and convenience of consumption amid changing lifestyles. The fresh oranges contain very plenty nutrients and diverse. The fruit has low calorific content and very rich in the dietary fiber pectin. This fiber is of great help to people suffering obesity.
Reference List
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