Cooking With Oranges

Whether savoring the sweetness of freshly squeezed orange juice, enjoying the indulging sweetness of orange marmalade, or relishing the zesty flavor in savory dishes, oranges offer versatile culinary possibilities. 

Oranges are the most popular citrus fruit eaten worldwide. Everyone knows they can be sour and sweet at the same time and mostly always juicy.

The citrus fruit originated in Southern China, Northeast India, and Myanmar.

Today Brazil is the largest producer of oranges, followed by the United States, Mexico, and China.

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There are several varieties of oranges with each variety offering both unique characteristics and flavor.

Popular opinions include:

• Navel Orange – sweet and slightly bitter
• Valencia Orange – Sweet, best for juicing
• Mandarin Orange – balance of sweetness and tangy
• Blood Orange – red flesh, juicy and tart
• Cara Cara Orange – pinkish-red flesh, very sweet and juicy
• Sumo Orange – juicy flesh, delicious balance of sweetness and acidity
• Seville Orange – best for making orange marmalade

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Selecting The Best Oranges And Storing Them

To find the freshest, sweetest and juiciest fruit in the display case look for the following:

• Clear, blemish-free rinds with no soft spots.
• Fruit that feels heavy compared to those around it. The heavier, the juicier!

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• Fruit with finely textured peel versus thick, heavily dimpled peel.
• Rind that is firm around the entire fruit. Only tangerines, clementines or mandarins should have peels that are loose around the orange.

According to Serious Eats – How to Store Oranges Properly, According to a USDA Scientist, storing oranges in the refrigerator is best.

Oranges prefer a cool, dark place. This makes the refrigerator an ideal place for storing them. Warm temperatures will speed ripening and decrease their shelf life.

Left out on the kitchen counter or in a fruit bowl, an orange will last about a week to two weeks. In the refrigerator, they will last up to 4 weeks.

Cooking With Oranges

There’s more to juicing an orange as a beverage or eating its individual segments as a snack.

An orange can transform a regular savory chicken recipe into a citrus-infused delight.

The citrus fruit can also be an integral part of recipes ranging from, sweet desserts, side dishes, salads and of course savory dishes.

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Turning an orange into a glaze to coat chicken pieces before roasting or grilling can result in a succulent and flavorful dish with a perfect balance of sweetness and savory notes.

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The best thing about making a glaze, is the variety of oranges you have to choose from. You can even use a jar of Orange Marmalade to make an orange glaze.

You can also use orange juice to make desserts, like with these Orange Cranberry Cupcakes or a skillet meal, such as with this One Skillet Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives Orange & Fennel.

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Let’s discuss in brief what you can do with the variety of oranges available to you to make a savory dish or baked good.

Cooking With A Navel Orange

The Navel Orange got its name due to the small indentation on the outside of the rind, situated at the opposite end from the stem, that somewhat resembles a human navel.

Navel’s are hybrids due to the result of crossing a tangelo and a mandarin orange.

These oranges are on the larger side and have thicker skin, which make them easy to peel.

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Navels are large and round, being the most common variety of orange. It’s very juicy, sweet, seedless, and easy to peel.

This versatile citrus fruit can easily be used in any recipe simply calling for its zest or juice, like these Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies.

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The juice and zest of a Navel can help to elevate the flavor of traditional cakes, such as carrot cake, like with this Brazilian-Style Chocolate-Glazed Carrot Cake.

The juice of a Navel can make a delicious vinaigrette for a salad with so much wonderful flavors and textures, like this Sweet Potato Salad With A Orange Vinaigrette.

The juice also offers a subtle hint of tanginess and a zesty twist that balances out the overall flavor of your savory dish, like this Cranberry Almond Chicken Salad and this skillet of savory Cranberry Balsamic Chicken Thighs.

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According to Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at the University of California, Riverside, navels are not good for juicing as they contain a compound called limonin, which can make the juice bitter as it sits.

Cooking With The Cara Cara

Cara Cara oranges look like bright-skinned navel oranges. The flesh is a distinct pinkish-red and orange.

Cara Cara oranges are in fact, navel oranges though they are smaller in size. They are prized for their sweetness and fruitiness similar to raspberries that exceeds most navel oranges. 

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They’re a seedless variety that is slightly tangy but less acidity, with a thinner pith making them less bitter and sweeter.

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While another variety of orange called “blood oranges” are more widely used in sweet and savory recipes, Cara Caras are used more on the sweet side. 

Cooking With Blood Oranges

Cooking with blood oranges adds a vibrant and tangy twist to your dishes, sweet or savory. This citrus gem is visually stunning with a deep red hue.

Blood oranges are small, round, with a blushing orange-red skin, and a reddish-orange flesh that gets its color.

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It has an intense orange flavor considered to be the most aromatic in the orange family with hints of a tart sweet raspberry or strawberry flavor. They are also rated a low-acid orange.

Combine the creamy texture of avocados and roasted butternut squash with the sweet refreshing taste of blood oranges to create a vibrant salad.

Use the sweet, citrusy notes of a blood orange to mingle with the crisp, anise-like flavor of fennel, and the sweet, but slightly spicy, and cool sensation of mint.

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Due to their vibrant and crimson color, they make a great garnish for baked goods, like an upside down cake.

Blood oranges are sure to add a pop of color and a burst of citrusy goodness to your savory chicken recipes as well.

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Cooking With A Mandarin Orange

The word Mandarin, is a term that applies to an entire group of citrus fruits which includes the clementine, Dancy, honey, pixie, satsuma, and tangerines in general.

Their commonalities include a smaller size, sweet flavor, bright orange colored skin that is thin and easy-to-peel skin. The segments come apart more easily than its larger counterparts, such as the Navel or Valencia.

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Mandarin oranges are better for snacking on. Though the segments can be added whole to salads, like with this Cranberry Walnut Mandarin Orange Salad.

Cooking With Orange Marmalade (Seville Orange)

Seville oranges are notable for their intense acidity and high pectin content. Because of this, Seville oranges are the traditional choice for making marmalade.

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Their complex flavor of highly aromatic with intense orangey notes adds depth and character to the marmalade.

Whether you’re making a tangy orange glaze for roasted chicken thighs like with this Harvest Grain Bowl With Dried Cranberries Pecans And Orange Marmalade Chicken, or a zesty orange dressing, like this Orange Marmalade Salad Dressing, Seville oranges can add a distinct and aromatic element to any dish.

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How To Zest An Orange

To zest an oranges you will need a micro plain zester, orange peeler with a channel knife or vegetable peeler.

With a micro plain zester, simply run it along the fruit, applying light pressure to remove the colored outer layer of the skin.

Be careful not to press too hard, as you only want to remove the zest and not the bitter white pith underneath.

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To use an orange peeler with a channel knife to make zest, carefully run it along the surface of the orange, applying gentle pressure to create thin strips of zest.

Rotate the orange as you zest to ensure even coverage and avoid removing the bitter white pith beneath the zest.

If using a vegetable peeler, gently peel off strips of the zest, the most outer part of the skin or peeling. Take caution to avoid the white pith as much as possible.

You can mix the orange zest with sugar (using your clean fingers) before adding it to other ingredients in your baked goods. Doing so will give you a really orangey flavor. 

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The sugar pulls the oils out of the zest to infuse the sugar with the flavor of orange which really makes the orange flavor carry throughout the recipe when added either to a cake or frosting.

And of course, if you choose not to zest, not to worry. You can use the whole orange (minus any seeds) in your baked goods, like with this Orange Cranberry Quick Bread With Orange Cream Frosting.

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Our final thought, on orange juice. It does have a unique flavor profile. The juice adds the zing of fresh citrus and the bite of acid. It also brings some moisture to a recipe.

If your recipe calls for orange juice it should specify which variety. But if it doesn’t, it is safe to use a navel orange.

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