BCE, and medieval crusaders brought sour
oranges back with them to Europe; Genoese
and Portuguese traders introduced sweet
oranges around 1500, and Spanish explorers
carried them to the Americas. Today, Brazil
and the United States produce most of the
world’s oranges. Barely a century ago,
oranges were special holiday treats; now
much of the Western world starts its day with
orange juice.
The fig. It contains small flowers within the
fleshy “fruit,” which is actually the swollen
flower base. The fig is an inverted version of
the strawberry: it surrounds rather than
underlies the true tiny fruits, or achenes.
Why are citrus fruits so popular? They
offer an unusual set of virtues. Above all,
their peels have distinctive and strong aromas,