Good morning!
How's your week going?
Another Thursday with your trusted newsletter direct from the field.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and here I am thinking that once again I'm going to talk about oranges. That's love too, right? 😅
I know I might talk too much about oranges. It's not that I don't realize it, but I'm a citrus grower, and well, everyone talks about what they're passionate about.
Today I want to tell you something that seems very simple, but can sometimes get complicated: how to tell if an orange is good.
In the case of those we send freshly harvested, it's unlikely they'll have problems. Many of the defects that can appear in oranges have to do with the passage of time, especially if they have been stored in cold rooms.
And even though that's not our case, I'm telling you because it's useful information to have on hand 😉.
🍅 Before we continue, we now have the authentic Raf Mini tomato available.
Pepe and his family have been cultivating this tasty variety for over 50 years using traditional techniques. It's the true tomato flavor in a small format:
I imagine that what happens to me with oranges probably happens to Pepe and his family with tomatoes. It's curious how each person feels more affinity with one crop than another. In my case, citrus fruits fascinate me. It must be a family thing...
That's why today I want to give you some citrus grower tips on how to know when an orange is at its best. Like this one here:
🍊 Tip 1️⃣: look at the color, aroma, and texture.
The fruit should be firm, not soft. The color, in principle, should be an intense orange, especially in winter varieties.
And when you smell it, it should have a fresh orange aroma. If it smells like medicine, it's a sign that it has been stored for a long time and has received treatments to prolong its shelf life.
🍊 Tip 2️⃣: consume oranges whose origin you know.
Oranges stored in cold rooms are usually treated with fungicides to prevent a damaged fruit from rotting the rest. This is not the case with our oranges, which go from the tree to your home without post-harvest treatments.
In industrial warehouses, where 10,000, 15,000, or even 20,000 kilos of oranges are stored, this type of treatment is common. If not done, if some rot, the fungus would spread quickly and it would be a disaster.
Therefore, choosing oranges whose origin you know guarantees that they have not gone through these processes and arrive fresh at your home.
In general, once an orange is picked, the most important factor is time ⏳.
The longer the time, the more the orange deteriorates, the smell from the cold rooms, the products it has been treated with, all of this somehow deteriorates it. And the same goes for the skin.
In the case of oranges from my plots and those of my fellow farmers, you can rest assured, because we pick the fruits from the tree to order.
You place an order through the website, and we go directly to the tree to pick the oranges so they arrive at your home in a matter of hours.
🔜 Surely, later I will give you other tips. I always say that having information is very important so as not to be deceived. And there are many things that are not told to users and consumers...
And in our case, it's the opposite: the more you know about our cultivation processes, the better.
It's like with avocados, which are put in ovens to force their ripening with heat. This, of course, makes them lose their nutrients. But that's a topic for another newsletter.
I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day 💘
See you next week.
A big hug!
