Dec 27th - Out of Alligator Alley and into the Orange Orchards

The Orange Blossom Special

Beautiful, bright and bountiful

The Blue Road that led to Orange Grove

Smelled soooo good!

They tasted even better!

We left the lushness of the marshes, in the Everglades with the abundant life of flora and fauna for the more human inhabited areas of agricultural Florida the day after Christmas.  We stopped for the night in Arcadia and moved on today a little further north to settle down in Zephyrhills, Florida.  On the way from Arcadia this morning we once again took the Blue roads in our attempt to see the countryside and not just asphalt with 4 lanes.  Our route wound us through acres and acres - thousands in fact, of orange groves.  We were on a little county road surrounded by the pungent citrus scent of heavily laden orange trees on both sides of the roads.  There was nothing else in sight for miles.  We pulled off right in the middle of this fresh  scented orange land  to take some pictures and to pick a couple of the juicy looking oranges.   -
The following is a quote from the book titled "Oranges" by John McPhee He wrote an absolutely fascinating book on .....just oranges!

"Botanically, they are spectacularly complicated. They can be completely unripe when they are a brilliant orange and deliciously ripe when they are as green as emeralds. An orange grown on one side of a tree is better than an orange grown on the other side. Citrus is so genetically perverse that oranges can grow from lime seeds. Most California lemons grow on orange roots. Most Florida oranges grow on lemon roots"

If you get the chance pick up this book by Mr McPhee.  It is amazing how interesting a book can be on simply oranges!  He does explain how the fruit was brought to the New World and why and many other really interesting facts about oranges.

So my entry today is basically about oranges and how  fun it was to find ourselves buried deep in an orange grove with the bright fruit all around us.  The trees were so heavily laden that the branches on some of the trees were touching the ground.  The nights have been quite cool for this area for the last week and I think that the farmers are concerned about the fruit freezing but this particular variety that we were "sampling" today may be a bit more hearty then some.  I am not sure on this point but they were delicious and the cold has only enhanced their flavor.