Florida oranges green?

[curwin]

I remember reading/hearing once that the difference
between Florida and California oranges is that CA
oranges are naturally orange, while FL oranges are
naturally green, but died orange.

When I have mentioned this to people, they tend
to disbelieve. Anyone have the SD?

[Kilgore_Trout_1]

look here.

http://63.97.40.4/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11780

[yabob]

… while FL oranges are naturally green, but died orange.

And what made the poor things turn orange before they passed away?

Sorry, see:

http://www.triplecgroves.com/more/about_florida_citrus.htm

They certainly look orange to me. There is this blurb, which may point to the cause of the confusion:

If you happen to discover some fruit with a green tint on the peel, not to worry. This is just nature at work. It’s the natural process of greening. Or regreening. Greening happens when Florida’s tropical nights become mild and the fruit doesn’t get the cool temperatures it needs to develop its orange or yellow color. And regreening occurs when late season fruit is still on the tree and absorbs chlorophyll from the season’s new blooms. So green or not, the fruit is just as good as ever.

So maybe “died” is right after all. They turn orange when they get cold.

And California citrus growers spend a lot of time contemplating their navels.

[diamud]

I am from Florida and have several orange trees. The Florida orange is kind of greenish-orange, not the bright orange on the california fruit. It is not dyed, but mainly used for juice. Stores are here sell them, but when I lived in D.C., they usually only sell the california oranges, on the assumption that people won’t buy a greenish orange, because it doesn’t look ripe (actually tastes much better than california orange, IMHO).

[Doug_Bowe]

This is from memory of a Consumer Reports story on oranges several years ago. The story mentioned a bunch of different varieties (Valencia was one of 'em) that reach maturity at different times. This allows an extended season for fresh oranges. The majority of the U.S. versions were ripe when they turned Orange(touches of green were fine for reasons mentioned above).
The major difference in Florida vs. California oranges were their purpose.
The majority of Florida oranges are used for juice. For this reason most Florida oranges are “wet” with thin skins; perfect for mechanical slicing and maximum juice.
While this is good for machines, it’s bad for peeling and eating. The thin skins are a bitch to peel the juice squirts in your hands and on your clothes.
The California orange has a thicker skin and is more dry. It peels easier and the segments can be seperated and eaten individually with minimum mess.

[Tomcat]

When I was a kid in New Orleans we had a green tangerine tree. The fruit never turned orange, just deep green. Never seen one since. But boy were they tasty.