15 Fun Facts About Orange

We know the many health advantages to eating oranges, but it’s history and quirky facts are really quite interesting, things you’d never think of or consider on your own, so here are fifteen fun facts about oranges!

1. Orange is a type of berry (hesperidia to be exact)


2. Orange trees are evergreens, seldom exceeding 9 m (30 ft) in height


3. The sour orange, or Seville, was introduced to the Mediterranean region by the Arabs about the 10th century, and the sweet orange was introduced by Genoese traders in the 15th century


4. The bergamot orange is primarily grown as a source of oils for cosmetics and flavoring


5. About 20 per cent of the total crop of oranges is sold as whole fruit; the remainder is used in preparing orange juice, extracts, and preserves.


6. An orange tree can grow to reach 30 feet and live for over a hundred years.


7. Because Navel Oranges are seedless, they can’t reproduce through pollination and require “budding” or grafting to create new trees.


8. A single citrus plant can bear as many as 60,000 flowers, but only 1% of those flowers will turn into fruit.


9. The Washington Navel Orange tree that helped start the California citrus industry is still standing and producing fruit in Riverside, California.


10. Navel oranges get their name from the belly-button formation opposite the stem end.


11. Valencia oranges are the most widely planted variety of orange worldwide!


12. Pummelos are the largest of all citrus fruit and the Chinese believe that eating Pummelos brings good luck, so they are popular during the Chinese New Year.


13. Contrary to what most of us think, this fruit was not named for its color. Instead, the word orange comes from a transliteration of the sanskrit naranga. Which comes from the Tamil naru. Which means “fragrant.”


14. It’s thought that the reason oranges have long been associated with fertility (and therefore, weddings) is because this lush evergreen tree can simultaneously produce flowers, fruit and foliage.


15. You will have to eat 7 cups of cornflakes to get the same amount to fiber you would get from one medium orange!