John McPhee is just great at making every topic interesting. This book talks about the history of oranges and what the industry (particularly in Florida) was up to in 1975 - at the time, concentrated orange juice was just starting to take over from fresh-squeezed. I'd be very interested in learning how things have evolved in the last 50 years.
After finishing this book, I went to my local fancy grocery place and bought one of every orange and tangerine they had. A+, would do again.
Yesterday, after dinner, Tina and I split an orange. This was a delicacy made new by my perusal of the John McPhee treatise Oranges this weekend. As with all McPhee books, this is filled with fun and fascinating facts that weave together into a compelling story. For instance:
* An orange is always sweeter on the blossom end. I tested this rule of thumb, and it held quite well for the ochre segments we ate (over the sink, of course) in the kitchen. * The best oranges on a tree are grown high up, on the south-facing side. * Navel oranges have a thick skin (as do California-grown oranges) compared to the Valencia orange (or the Florida-grown ones). * Far from the corporate behemoth I pictured it as, Sunkist is the largest agricultural cooperative in the world. * Frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ, for fans of the film Trading Places) …
Yesterday, after dinner, Tina and I split an orange. This was a delicacy made new by my perusal of the John McPhee treatise Oranges this weekend. As with all McPhee books, this is filled with fun and fascinating facts that weave together into a compelling story. For instance:
* An orange is always sweeter on the blossom end. I tested this rule of thumb, and it held quite well for the ochre segments we ate (over the sink, of course) in the kitchen. * The best oranges on a tree are grown high up, on the south-facing side. * Navel oranges have a thick skin (as do California-grown oranges) compared to the Valencia orange (or the Florida-grown ones). * Far from the corporate behemoth I pictured it as, Sunkist is the largest agricultural cooperative in the world. * Frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ, for fans of the film Trading Places) is not simply concentrated orange juice. It's fresh OJ that's been vaccuum-extracted to within an inch of its life, resulting in a tepid acid-sugar syrup with no particular orange character. Packers then add a small amount of fresh OJ and d-limonene (orange peel oil) to give it the flavor we've come to know and love as "orange juice." No WONDER freshly-squeezed OJ tastes so different from Minute Maid.
