Orange

Name	Orange
Peak season	rainy season (May-October)
Uses	juices, hand-fruit, ingredient, sweets
Vegetation	tree
Scientific Name	Citrus Sinesis
Spanish Name	naranja

The orange is one of the best fruits for making a healthy, delicious fruit juice. Although there are some other uses for oranges, it is the juice that makes this fruit so popular in Nicaragua and in many other countries. Nicaraguans generally prefer to sweeten their orange juice by adding some sugar, sometimes reaching a level that is too sweet for foreigners. It is also possible to eat fresh, peeled oranges. Street vendors have hand-tools to easily peel the orange’s rind, and peeled oranges are frequently offered on the street.

Orange pulp (like all other citrus fruit) provides a lot of vitamin C and minerals like calcium. Although there are several varieties and different hybrids produced in Nicaragua, the fruit is always round and its color transforms from green in the beginning to orange or yellow as they ripen. The pulp is also orange when they are ready to be consumed.

The medium-sized orange trees have spines and can produce 500-1500 fruits every season.

Another type of orange that is consumed in Nicaragua is known as the ‘Sour Orange’ (citrus aurantium). This variety is similar to its sweet relative but its rind is more wrinkled and they taste rather sour. Sour oranges are only used as an ingredient in other food and drinks.