Though Sicilians are very proud about all food produced on their island, they are exceptionally passionate about their citrus fruits. Arance,in particular, are the pride and joy of Sicily.
Here the Arance fall into one of three basic categories:
Your classic orange colored Arancia, often referred to as Brasiliana (Brazilian), l'Arancia Vaniglia (Vanilla Orange), and l'Arancia Rossa, the Blood Orange.
I had never been much of an orange fan... until I tasted a Sicilian Blood Orange. The poor Brasiliana and Arancia Vaniglia just can't compare. The first is either too sweet or too tart, and the latter can be sickly sweet. L'Arancia Rossa is a perfect balance of dolce and aspro.
L'Arancia Rossa is a very generic term though. If you walk up to a fruit vendor in Catania and ask for some "red oranges", he'll immediately ask you whether you mean the Tarocco, Moro, or Sanguinello.
I had never been much of an orange fan... until I tasted a Sicilian Blood Orange. The poor Brasiliana and Arancia Vaniglia just can't compare. The first is either too sweet or too tart, and the latter can be sickly sweet. L'Arancia Rossa is a perfect balance of dolce and aspro.
L'Arancia Rossa is a very generic term though. If you walk up to a fruit vendor in Catania and ask for some "red oranges", he'll immediately ask you whether you mean the Tarocco, Moro, or Sanguinello.
The three different variates of blood orange may very slightly by color, texture, and taste, but it has been my experience that they all taste equally amazing. AmoreMio, however, insists that Sanguinello is the classic "bloody" orange, as indicated by it's name (Sangue = blood).
The fruit vendor's next question will be whether you want your oranges per spremuta, for juice. The only difference is that the rind is thinner than usual and therefore a little more difficult to peel, but excellent for making fresh squeezed orange juice.
You'll also find that oranges per spremuta are usually a few cents cheaper than their thicker skinned counterpart, so even if they are a bit more difficult to peel, I like to buy them to eat as well. Why pay extra for a thicker peel that gets torn off and thrown away in the end? As long as you have a knife and have read Peeling an Orange, The Sicilian Way, you should have no problem breaking into the bloody interior, regardless of peel thickness.
So what makes the Sanguinello and other blood oranges so fabulously red?
While I had previously
assumed the red coloring was specific to the minerals found in volcanic soil,
it turns out it has nothing to do with the dirt at all, though still very much
to do with Mt. Etna.
The distinctive red is actually a defensive pigmentation that reacts to a specific combination of environmental conditions. Specifically: dramatic changes in temperature in a dry climate during autumn and winter.
Sicily is quite dry, and thanks to Etna, enjoys a roller coaster of temperatures between day and night. While any region will experience hotter temperatures in the sun and colder temperatures at night, the vicinity of Etna and the sea means that there is even a bigger collision of temperatures. The key point is this: cold air will stay put once the sun goes down in a flat area, but at the base of a mountain you'll have waves of even colder air coming down all night.
Add that to the orange's maturing cycle between November and March and you get pigment; which is the orange tree trying to protect it's fruit from relatively inhospitable conditions
Might I add that I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that, in places that aren't Alaska, things do continue to grow and actually ripen in winter months. I find it absolutely bizarre to have oranges in season for Christmas.
Anyway, this was a very crude interpretation of what I am sure is very complicated environmental science, but I just wanted to give you a general understanding.
For me, rediscovering fruit is one of the highlights of living in what is essentially an open air greenhouse. Edible goodies are sprouting and flourishing everywhere and much of it costs pennies, if it costs anything at all!
Though Alaska rocks the vegetable patch in the summer, it's never quite gotten the hang of fruit. So having plenty of fresh oranges within grasp at all times of the year is nothing short of luxurious, even if for most Sicilians it's simply the hum drum of the daily menu.
I love asking Sicilians how much they think the blood orange costs in Alaska, and then watching their mouths drop when I tell them that the price of a whole kilo here would only get you one measly, little, air flown orange in AK.
Cosa? Ma sono fatti d'oro quelle arance?
"What, are they made of gold or something?" they cry in outrage.
In Alaska, yes. Yes they are.
And here, I feel like King Midas.
The distinctive red is actually a defensive pigmentation that reacts to a specific combination of environmental conditions. Specifically: dramatic changes in temperature in a dry climate during autumn and winter.
Sicily is quite dry, and thanks to Etna, enjoys a roller coaster of temperatures between day and night. While any region will experience hotter temperatures in the sun and colder temperatures at night, the vicinity of Etna and the sea means that there is even a bigger collision of temperatures. The key point is this: cold air will stay put once the sun goes down in a flat area, but at the base of a mountain you'll have waves of even colder air coming down all night.
Add that to the orange's maturing cycle between November and March and you get pigment; which is the orange tree trying to protect it's fruit from relatively inhospitable conditions
Might I add that I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that, in places that aren't Alaska, things do continue to grow and actually ripen in winter months. I find it absolutely bizarre to have oranges in season for Christmas.
Anyway, this was a very crude interpretation of what I am sure is very complicated environmental science, but I just wanted to give you a general understanding.
For me, rediscovering fruit is one of the highlights of living in what is essentially an open air greenhouse. Edible goodies are sprouting and flourishing everywhere and much of it costs pennies, if it costs anything at all!
Though Alaska rocks the vegetable patch in the summer, it's never quite gotten the hang of fruit. So having plenty of fresh oranges within grasp at all times of the year is nothing short of luxurious, even if for most Sicilians it's simply the hum drum of the daily menu.
I love asking Sicilians how much they think the blood orange costs in Alaska, and then watching their mouths drop when I tell them that the price of a whole kilo here would only get you one measly, little, air flown orange in AK.
Cosa? Ma sono fatti d'oro quelle arance?
"What, are they made of gold or something?" they cry in outrage.
In Alaska, yes. Yes they are.
And here, I feel like King Midas.
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