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Releases
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Links
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Folklore
and facts about citrus fruit
- In Greek
mythology, Jupiter's wedding gift to Juno was an orange.

- Oranges
were first enjoyed in the royal courts of ancient China,
India and the Middle East.
- The two
most common varieties of oranges are Valencia and Navel.
Valencias are excellent juice oranges.
- The first
sweet orange was cultivated near the city of Valencia,
Spain. Christopher Columbus brought the Valencia orange
to the New World in the 15th century and Spanish explorers
planted the first trees near St. Augustine, Florida
in the mid-1500s.
- Navel orange
trees were brought to California from Brazil in 1873.
The navel orange got its name from its shape. The bottom
of the fruit looks like a navel.
- Florida's
sunshine and rain create oranges with thin skins and
extra juice. The extra juice makes the oranges about
25% heavier than thicker-skinned oranges.
- The skin
of Florida oranges is usually yellow, not the bright
orange most people expect. Bright orange skin requires
cool night temperatures, not, the warm tropical nights
common to Florida. Skin color does not affect the ripeness
of the fruit.
- Grapefruit
is native to the Caribbean and South America, and was
first planted near Tampa, Florida in 1823 by the French
Count, Odet Philippe.

- The tangerine
is native to Tangiers in Northern Africa. Tangelo fruit
is a hybrid cross of tangerines and grapefruit. Its
juice is often blended with the orange to make a fresh-tasting
juice.
- Oranges
are the most popular citrus fruit. Of all the citrus
grown in the United States, 60% are oranges; 19%, grapefruit;
12%, lemons and 9%, tangerines.
- Florida
produces more grapefruit than anywhere else in the world,
and is second in orange production, after Brazil. In
the U.S., oranges are also grown in California, Arizona
and Texas.

- Citrus fruit
is almost always picked by hand. Farm workers can pick
more than 7,000 pounds of fruit in a day.
- 1/3 of all
commercially grown Florida oranges becomes juice.
- One eight-ounce
glass of Florida orange juice supplies 100 percent of
the daily vitamin C your body needs. Vitamin C is not
retained in the body and must be replenished every day.
- One orange
has about 70 calories, no sodium, no cholesterol, and
no fat.
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