Orange is the New Favorite

I love fruit of all types and in all seasons, but in the winter, citrus seems a special treat. It looks warm and tastes like sunshine, so a perfect antidote for gray, cold days. And to fend off what ails you.

We were lucky to receive a shipment of oranges and grapefruit from Texas and have been lapping up every delicious drop. Though we can buy citrus at the grocery year-round, this reminded me of the days when winter citrus shipments from warmer climates were a special holiday delivery. Maybe that’s how getting an orange in the toe of your Christmas stocking became such a treat.

Feeling a bit under the weather, I turned to grapefruit, lemon and honey in tea, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. They soothed and evoked the times I had these before. Growing up a half grapefruit was a special breakfast item, sectioned using a slender serrated knife that could easily slip between the membranes to free the fruit. A fancy maraschino cherry on top would be the last bite.

Tea with lemon and honey is not how I usually take it, but it’s the best soother for a sore throat. Swallowing the liquid as hot as possible and breathing in the citrusy steam was so much more pleasant than a sticky coat of Vicks VapoRub. And when older, the addition of bourbon was quite nice as well.

Frozen orange juice was what we had most often. Digging the sticky goo out of the can and finally getting it to dissolve with the water was a morning triumph. On camping trips, the frozen version was problematic because we couldn’t keep it frozen, so we went all space age and got powdered orange drink. I was a fan of this easy to mix and much sweeter version, but it was in no way juice. 

On a trip to Spain, we found that every cafe had an orange juicer so you could get the most marvelous fresh-squeezed juice. Paired with an omelet, toast, and coffee, it was a perfect meal that did not remind me of camping at all. 

Fortified with juice and lounging to regain my strength, I binged a series where an orange had a mysterious recurring role. It rolled out of the dark to land at a character’s feet, emerged from under a bed, and was both an eerie childhood memory and an oracle. Or maybe I was just drifting in and out of sleep, imagining the power of this marvelous fruit.