On Food and Cooking

autumn and winter. The pigments tend to
accumulate at the blossom end and in vesicles
immediately next to the segment walls, and
continue to accumulate after harvest when the
fruits are held in cold storage. The pigments
and their phenolic precursors give blood
oranges a higher antioxidant value than other
oranges. The unique flavor of blood oranges
combines citrus notes with a distinct
raspberry-like aroma.
Acidless oranges are grown in small
numbers in north Africa, Europe, and South
America, and have about a tenth the acidity —
and less orange aroma — of common and
navel oranges.
Sour oranges come from a different
species than the kinds described above, and
are both sour and bitter (thanks not to limonin
but a related compound, neohesperidin), with
an intense and distinctive peel aroma. They
arrived in Spain and Portugal in the 12th
century, and soon displaced quince as the