patrick.net

My first thought was old people - even though they're old & wrinkled from the trip across the country...

Orange trees take decades to sweeten. It was just 10 years ago, that Florida eradicated all of the Oranges in Florida after a blight epidemic. They even went around the State and pulled and mulched peoples Citrus tress on private property.

So as a result, an edible Orange in Florida is rare, before the eradication efforts, those Citrus trees that were baring sweet edible fruit were 50 to 70 years old.

There was a problem but the State over reacted, by killing every tree in the State, even in my town we were at least 100 miles from any Groves. One thing I've noticed in the last 10 years compared to eradication. There are far fewer Groves. Most of the Groves were replaced by Gated communities in Central Florida. Now it seems they killed all of those healthy trees in peoples yards, all for naught.

SO basically we had to give up our trees for Inedible Oranges and Gated communities.
We had to give up our trees to save the industry, what did they do? Sold those Groves during the RE boom. We should class action the Citrus industry, for reneging on their end of the deal. We got rid of our trees so they could grow Oranges, not make a fortune in RE.

I agree completely. The oranges suck major this year. I didn't realize it until my coworker (who has a house in the central valley) brought in some oranges from her tree backyard - hers were way better than anything store bought.

Tenouncetrout says

Orange trees take decades to sweeten. It was just 10 years ago, that Florida eradicated all of the Oranges in Florida after a blight epidemic. They even went around the State and pulled and mulched peoples Citrus tress on private property.

I wasn't aware this ever happened - I have some relatives that used to bring me a bag of oranges that they'd get from a flea market in Tampa that were awesome and this was 4-5 years ago. Unfortunately, they fly instead of drive now and don't bring home any oranges. They always had some brown spots/imperfections on them but they tasted a helluva lot better than the neon-orange ones available in the store.

I love California oranges. Very juicy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davalamo/5264408649/in/set-72157625607450718/

Passing out fruit and sugar-free treats at Veterans Home.

Good on ya!