This may or may not be the first in a series of "American Food and Chinese Counterparts." Today's lesson: oranges.
Anyway, at this farm there was a tree with some limes growing on them. Except they weren't limes.
No, no, not limes. They were oranges. Little oranges that hadn't matured yet.
I can hear you: "How can you confuse oranges and limes? You're an idiot."
Actually, you're the idiot. Green oranges. Look.
A few weeks back, we were invited to a local farm to eat for one of the various Chinese holidays that we celebrated but I don't fully understand. Basically, each family honors their ancestors by killing a chicken and staying home all day. They think ghosts come out at night time, so you must stay indoors! This was easy for us since we were living at the hotel at the time and just playing a lot of FIFA.
Anyway, at this farm there was a tree with some limes growing on them. Except they weren't limes.
No, no, not limes. They were oranges. Little oranges that hadn't matured yet.
I can hear you: "How can you confuse oranges and limes? You're an idiot."
Actually, you're the idiot. Green oranges. Look.
Lisa, if you're reading this -- you would have a DREAM peeling the white stuff (pith) off of these suckers. If they had these suckers in the office, you might get laid off for spending your whole day picking it instead of working. Don't say I didn't warn you.
This is all probably very confusing to my students who are learning "orange" right now, especially since one of their practice problems states that, "an orange is orange." Maybe it should confusingly say, "an orange is green."
Green on the outside, orange in the middle. Tastes just like the oranges I'm used to in the US: pretty sweet, a little tangy, and nice and juicy.
I don't know the exact reason these specific oranges are green, but I'll make an attempt to explain why some are green. Wikipedia says there is one variety of green oranges that is a cross breed between the Mandarin orange and pomelo (whatever that is). It originates in Vietnam (quite close to where I am) and does well growing at altitude (we're above 5,000 ft.). Maybe we've been eating cam sành (the Vietnamese name for these green oranges).
Some other site I've never heard of, Innvista, along with a few other sites I found, say that there are many reasons the oranges you're used to can be green. Here's a breakdown:
- In tropical/warm climates, the skin is often naturally green.
- Cold temperatures destroy the chlorophyll that make the skin green.
- The color changes to orange when exposed to ethylene gas, which breaks down the chlorophyll.
- A fact that I'd heard from somebody else recently: Often times, oranges are dyed orange because that's what consumers demand and expect.
Hey Tom! It's Kristen! That whole "an orange is orange" this definitely threw my students too. I asked them what color an orange was yesterday, and there were a few students who knew what I wanted them to say and just shouted out "orange!!" The rest were like... um.... not really... :S
Good research though. Way to be on top of it. ;)