Tropical Pick
The story behind the humble orange.
Oranges are a bit dull aren’t they? You can buy them everywhere. And apart from the size, they are all pretty much the same. They aren’t interesting and exotic like dragon fruit or durian. But there’s a lot more to oranges than just being a good source of vitamin C.
Where to start? Well basically there are two sorts of oranges worldwide – sweet ones and sour ones. Of course there are different varieties, like tangerines, mandarins, blood oranges and even Thai oranges, but let’s keep things simple for now.
The generic name for sweet oranges is citrus simensis. It’s assumed that oranges were first discovered growing in north-east India and Indochina, but nobody knows for sure. In the 16th century, Europeans suddenly realised that you didn’t drop off the edge of the world if you kept sailing in a straight line. So they began to explore in their sailing ships, looking for new lands to plunder and peoples to conquer. It was in this way that oranges, like so many other fruits, found their way to the Mediterranean countries, then on to the Americas, from where they began to spread quickly. So much so, that today it is the most commonly grown fruit tree in the world.
By the 17th century, the Dutch, followed by the Spanish, British and French, had developed diplomatic and trading relationships with Thailand (or Siam as it was then known). And at this time there was a huge influx of tropical fruits from other countries, including the orange. Although the Europeans had been aware of citrus fruit since Roman times, these were bitter fruits, used only for medicinal purposes. But in the trading frenzy, optimised by the heyday of the Dutch East India Trading Company, the sweet orange emerged. From where exactly, nobody is quite sure, but this is the orange that quickly became popular in Thailand.
The small, sweet, Thai orange, ‘som kaeow wan’, has evolved into something today that is different from other tangerines – and, yes, it’s a member of this branch of the orange family. Firstly, it’s almost completely smooth-skinned – it has no trace of the dimpled surface that characterises orange-peel. Because of this, it’s often referred to in Thai as ‘som kliang’, meaning ‘the smooth orange’. Secondly, the skin is extremely thin, making it easy to break-open and peel.
And the third thing is its colour. Normally, we associate a green colour with an unripe fruit. But the Thai orange can range from deep green – like a lime – through to the dappled green-and-orange of the more mature fruit. But, whatever its appearance, it’s absolutely the sweetest orange that you’ll ever taste, with not even a trace of tartness, or bitterness. And it hasn’t got the stickiness that some of the other local fruits are guilty of – the rambutan, or the durian, for example. Because it’s a member of the citrus family, its sweetness is moist, watery and refreshing.
Not surprisingly, the Thais use it a lot in their cooking. One favourite dish is the sour ‘gang som’ – orange curry. Although, today, canned orange juice is sometimes used for convenience, traditionally this dish is flavoured from a combination of both the rind and the fresh juice – which gives it the smell of oranges, too. You’ll also come across oranges used in a variety of Thai desserts. One of the simplest, and best-known, is called ‘som loi kaeow’ or ‘orange slices on ice’. The sweet little segments are placed in a dish on top of crushed ice, bathed in their own juice and scented with freshly-picked jasmine flowers – the Thai equivalent of fresh vanilla. And it’s a glorious nibble, on a hot, sticky afternoon!
Finally, here are a couple of strange facts about oranges. The first is that orange peel contains between 90 and 95% of a substance called limonene, which has a lethal effect on flies, fleas and ants – if you can hold them still long enough to rub the peel on them, I suppose.
And secondly, the pips are particularly high in protein, and contain fibre, too. Crushed-up and added to the cattle-feed, they make a cheap and nourishing supplement, widely-used throughout the world.
And don’t forget the vitamin C and vitamin A, and lots of calcium and phosphorous, too. Oranges really are very good for you!