Oh My Goodness! Oranges!

175-ShelleyGoldbeckPost-Christmas until the end of March is the best season for oranges and grapefruit, unless you live where citrus grows; then it’s longer. (Mandarin oranges are in season until just before Christmas.)

I look forward to eating oranges in season. They are juicy and sweet but tangy. My favourites are Cara Cara oranges and Tangerines, which show up late in the season, (March). Of course fruit seasons vary slightly from year to year.

I believe in seasonal eating. When fruit is in season, it is usually ripe, sweet, and relatively inexpensive. I think human digestive systems do well with eating one food for a while (in season). Eat your fill and move onto the next season.

Local is nice but completely impractical when our frost-free growing season is only 90 days. There aren’t many fruit trees that can survive our winters. Citrus does best with zero frost-free days. Recall panicked Florida orange growers when frost threatens!

Why do you want to eat oranges? Citrus fruits are a great source of Vitamin C and the bioflavonoids that help C do its job. High in fibre, low in fat, they even have a small amount of protein. Oranges have folate, vital in fetus development and Vitamin A (Retinoids and Carotenoids) for various tasks to maintain bodily health.

The value of these nutrients in this delicious sphere, with its very own colour, far exceeds what you can get from a supplement or multi-vitamin. The synthetics don’t include the micronutrients and trace minerals that make the nutrition team inside the orange work so harmoniously.

What about orange juice? I recommend it only if you juice it yourself, (and consume it sparingly. It’s not whole without the fibre.) Many orange juice brands contain unlabelled substances like colours, flavours, preservatives and agricultural chemical residues. They’re also pasteurized, effectively killing most nutrients. Some brands sneak in sugar, or worse, aspartame. The juice, without pulp is little more than sugar water, spiking your blood sugar levels.

It’s best to eat the whole fruit. I do juice oranges that are past their prime eating stage. I use the juice to flavour salad dressings and desserts or we pour a bit into our smoothies. It’s easy to overdo orange juice. Beware!

Eating Ideas: add oranges to salads for some pizzazz. Pair oranges with cranberry in recipes for an interesting taste combination. My grandma taught me to add orange juice and zest to a white cake recipe for an elegant but simple dessert.

Oranges. Get them while they’re good.

Remember to Eat the Food, The Whole Food and Nothing but the Food.

My Orange Chiffon Cake recipe

For a complete report on the nutrition of oranges see: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=31

Shelley Goldbeck, DTM has studied food for over 35 years, after an epiphany at the grocery store led her to put back the doughnuts and cookies and buy the peaches instead! Her food choices have evolved and she enjoys sharing the results of her research with others. Shelley is a Thinker, Writer, and Speaker based in Calgary, AB. 

Seasonal Eating

summereating
Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com

A healthy way to live is to eat “in season”.

That means eating foods that are at their peak of flavour and nutrients. This often happens only once per year, for a very short time, especially if eating locally is the goal.

Eating in season is also economical. Whatever is in season is usually cheaper than it will be any other time of the year.

In my opinion, food eaten in season tastes better. It’s usually fresher and more nutritious.

The best season of our food year is imminent. It starts with spring baby lettuce, baby spinach leaves, green onions and crisp, tangy radishes. All these are easy to grow at home. They like cool weather and can be seeded in Calgary anytime after mid-April.

If you’re really lucky, you have an asparagus patch. Their tender shoots magically appear overnight. Raw, they remind me of fresh raw peas. Lightly steamed until al dente and brushed with a teaspoon of butter or olive oil, they have their own unique flavour. Very yummy!

I get really excited about spring fruits. Early rhubarb always reminds me of my grandma, who made rhubarb “pudding”, a yellow cake batter poured over a pan of chopped rhubarb, baked and served warm with ice-cream.

Strawberries in June embody the spirit of summer! A touch of honey. A bit of cream. Fit for a queen!

The first cherries arrive in June. When their skins are crunchy and their flesh, sweet and juicy, I can eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I often do!

Picking berries was an integral part of my childhood summers. My siblings and I would mount our bikes or horses with our ice-cream pails and larger buckets. We headed home when the buckets were full. It could take all day: we spent more than half our time cramming berries into our mouths!

When the first peas are ready, I am at peace in the garden, splitting the warm pods to discover the sweet treasures inside. The best carrots are the true babies, (not the peeled to shape varieties) pulled, wiped on my pants, and crunched, soil granules and all, right there in the garden.

And potatoes! New potatoes stolen from the periphery of the plant are creamy and sweet. If I never ate another mature potato I wouldn’t care but new potatoes are a completely different animal!

In the old neighbourhood where I live many yards have raspberry patches. Kids love to stick a berry on each of their ten little fingers, wiggle them around, and then devour them one by one.

As summer wanes plums and peaches come into season. More feasting on fruit. And what to do with all that zucchini? (I like them baby so I don’t have that problem).

Alas! Our season is short! By fall, some vegetables are just coming into their prime. The brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, all like cool weather. Turnips and parsnips are sweeter if they’ve experienced frost.

Eating in season will bolster the total nutrients you take in, reduce your carbon footprint since it’s easier to eat locally, and likely give your pocketbook a break. I highly recommend it.