In search of Florida Oranges!

[lemarais]

In Publix, most of the stores have a beautiful display of oranges and grapefruits, ALL FROM CALIFORNIA!! Is the orange on the license plates an illusion?

Fresh squeezed juice, fuggeddaboudit!!! Same Tropicana that's available anywhere in the US.

I went to a farmer's market last Sunday at a hospital parking lot in Miramar, but only one vendor had a few oranges, got a couple, and they were tasteless...

Is there anywhere in SE Fla where one can get real, short-traveled, great Fla oranges? And what about fresh-squeezed, non processed, non pasteurized juice? (Prefer Broward, but will travel for something special.)

[INDIANRIVERFL]

This has been a bad year for citrus in Florida. Too hot. It takes a couple of cold fronts in the thirties for the fruit to sweaten.

The majority of commercial oranges in Florida are juice oranges. The small grove specialty citrus was killed off in the Orlando area by the freeze of 1989. Real estate development has done the same in the rest of the state.

The planting of oranges and tangerines by new residents from up north has also tapered off. That I have no explanation for.

[sunshine842]

there were also a ton of people who lost their trees to canker (edit; had the wrong disease) in the late 90s -- the government was destroying trees left and right...and lost the battle anyway....

I had to drive to Orlando right after Christmas of 1989 -- it was 16F in my backyard outside Tampa. It almost made me cry to pass 75 miles of frozen citrus trees along I-4.

[southocean]

Well, the citrus canker eradication program at the turn of the century virtually eliminated all the home grown citrus trees in the southern end of the state. Controversy at the time indicated that the government action -- arriving at your home and forcibly removing your citrus trees, with only a K-Mart/Wal-Mart nursery voucher as compensation -- was an effort to protect commercial groves at the expense of individual homeowners.

The eradication program stopped about 2006, and only certified canker-free plants can be purchased from a nursery today.

[lemarais]

It seems, sadly, that the only way to get great, local Florida oranges these days is from the growers on the internet that usually ship the boxes up north! In New Jersey, I got a FABULOUS double box of Florida navels in December.

http://www.orangesonline.com/index.cfm

This place had a 2 box for the price of 1 special, and the navels were FABULOUS!! Sad that just 150 miles south of there one has to get 3000 mile-traveled oranges in the stores!

[keithtang]

I was dumbfounded when Canadian friend ask me this question. Why are the oranges in Florida more expensive than Canada. They are all from California!
Don't understand why they are not more available at regular supermarkets.
Tried the ones from the stands of turnpike service plaza. They are great oranges.

[emily]

Saw 2 different kinds of FL oranges in Epicure Market today in South Beach.

[taiga]

I saw Uncle Matt's from Florida in Whole Foods yesterday, but I confess that I was a bit shocked at how many of the choices were not Floridian as the OP suggested.

[Frodnesor]

Pretty sure you'll regularly find FL oranges in season at Norman Brothers down in Kendall area.

[lemarais]

Actually I don't care about pick your own, looking for mainly Florida oranges and/or fresh-squeezed juice. A little off-putting that in Publix all they sell is California oranges!!

[sunshine842]

just that pick your own usually have buy-your-own onsite, as well, and you can't get much fresher than buying them 15 feet from the tree....

[DolceFarNiente]

I think part of the problem is that Florida Orange country is further North in the state - closer to the Orlando area and more central. While you might be able to buy Florida oranges in South Florida picking your own is more prevalent up north. When I drove up to Orlando last month there was a temporary farm stand at the rest area at the Port St. Lucie exit and they were selling local oranges. Hard to believe we have an orange industry in this state!!

[sunshine842]

there are commercial groves all across the southern end of the state -- more than in Orlando, because of the devastating freezes of years past. (of COURSE not in the Glades; but either side of them)

Why is it hard to believe that there's an orange industry in FL?

[taiga]

Agreed.

[taiga]

For me it's easy to get Florida oranges from Whole Foods or the Fresh Market and lots of the juice, even some of the Tropicana is clearly marked from Florida. Florida's Finest is Florida juice, though processed. I also have a tree. I think you must look harder.

[lemarais]

But I'm not interested in processed juice, no matter where it's from. And P.S.-- a large number of Tropicana products are made from oranges from Brazil!

[southocean]

Bob Roth's New River Groves, on Griffin road, in Davie, should have the fresh squeezed juice and flavorful fruit you're looking for. Their Key Lime Pie was what convinced the state legislature to make Key Lime Pie the official state pie.

[sunshine842]

No personal experience, but I'd start with one of the you-picks:

http://www.pickyourown.org/FLsoutheas...

(horrible graphics, but good info)

[lemarais]

Good for veggies, but you may have noticed that not ONE place on this entire list has oranges!

[sunshine842]

ask one of them. There are still commercial groves in and around Miami -- there HAS to be one or more that has you-pick.

Try localharvest.org
Try the classified ads in the Herald.

Ask at your local health-food store (they're frequently in the know for locally-produced fruits and veg)

Pick up one of those local shopper magazines. Page through the one that shows up in your mailbox.

Try a smaller supermarket.

They're there -- even if you have to actively look for them (and it drives me INSANE that Publix brings in produce from California -- especially the biggies like tomatos, strawberries, and citrus, when it's all grown right here in Florida!)