Cold Prevention

Cold Prevention, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

It's that time of year when germs seem to be floating everywhere. I'm doing what I can to bolster my immunity. These oranges (blood orange and a variation of clementines ) should boost my vitamin C intake. A bit of sweet and sour bring sunshine to my life.

Mar 5/10: Blood Orange

Mar 5/10: Blood Orange, originally uploaded by susanvg.

There was a time when we would only get a few varieties of oranges. Before my trip to Italy many years ago I had never seen a blood orange. We went to the market in Rome and bought fresh fruit to feast on: fistfuls of cherries, tied in a bouquet, juicy apricots and some oranges. When we cut into the orange we were shocked to see red splotches - not all red like this orange (I'm sure it has been hybridized to look like this). Our first thought was that the orange was diseased. We tasted hesitantly; it was tangier than the naval oranges we were used to, but it was juicy and fresh-tasting. Since that time I have sought out blood oranges. I find these to be not as good as the ones I tasted in Italy. While they are red inside, the flavour is more like the naval oranges. And the marbled colour of the Italian oranges was much more interesting and surprising.