Thursday
Feb282008
There Will Be Blood Oranges
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 10:14PM 
Blood oranges are in season! How I wish I could package their juicy essence and enjoy the ruby sweet pulp all year round, but that would defeat the purpose: these sublime beauties deserve to be eaten raw.
Blood oranges also deserve the attention they've been getting around the the interweb. At World's Healthiest Foods, there's this post on their superior nutritional profile:
These anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments that provide blood oranges with their crimson color. Blood oranges also contain vitamin C in more concentrated amounts than conventional oranges. These fruits-native to Italy and Spain-can typically provide between 150-200 milligrams of vitamin C per cup of juice. The amount of vitamin C in a cup of juice from conventional oranges is typically between 75-125 milligrams.
That's interesting and all, but the best thing about blood oranges is their flavor - sweet, ripe and ready for a recipe extravaganza! Here are a few that have cropped up in recent weeks:
Blood orange recipes
- Tamarind, Orange and Mint dressing from Veggie Meal Plans
- Mini Coconut Blood Orange Bundt Cakes (say that 5 times fast) from VeganYumYum
- Blood Orange Sorbet by David Lebovitz (does not require an ice cream maker!)
- Blood Orange Margarita
- Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks
- Blood Orange Salsa from Kim O'Donnel of The Washington Post
I've been meaning to try the mint dressing, but I keep eating all of the oranges before I get around to making it. If only all of life's problems were this good...
Reader Comments (3)
These recipes look fantastic! I work at an organic juice company, so I get blood orange juice for free and am always looking for good recipes. Have you tried blood orange juice? We make a brand called Italian Volcano Blood Orange Juice in case you're ever interested in checking it out.
Thanks for the recipe ideas!
Ann
Blood orange juice. YUM. If I had free blood orange juice I would probably first make salad dressing, then a margarita. Actually I'd make the margarita first, to drink while I made the salad. I like the name "Volcano Blood Orange Juice", though "Vampire Blood Orange Juice" would be even better. I'll look out for it, though I might as well make fresh Blood OJ while they're in season and cheap - I found them 5/£1 today at the green grocer. BARGAIN.
A blood orange margarita - I could totally go for that! Though all the recipes sound just wonderful. Thanks for including me in your list, Monica. :)