IGP ORANGES
In eastern Sicily, to the south-west of Etna, the orange coloured cultivars yield a very high quality fruit: “the Sicilian reds”, which are differentiated from others owing to their acute colouring and perfect balance between sugars and acids. The abundant amount of exposure to sunlight allows high sugar levels to form, which are basic in giving flavour which is in turn rendered sweet by the modest amount of rainfall. And it is exactly in red oranges that vitamin C accumulates in very high percentages of more than 40% compared to other oranges.
Characteristics
The orange is a special berry, properly called a “hesperidium”, having a smooth more or less wrinkled outer part, which is golden-yellow coloured in its flavedo, rich in glands where a very fragrant essential oil is contained; it also has the albedo, or white fluffy stuff in the middle part of the peel, which is glued on to the flavedo. Finally there is the more inner part which is very much developed, and divided into several segments each covered by a thin yellowish-burgundy membrane containing the juicy pulp.
The precious vitamin C is contained in the pulp and in the juice. This vitamin is as much vulnerable as it is precious and, among other things, it could lower the cholesterol level in the blood and hinder the formation of atheromatous plaques which with the passing of time lead to a blockage of the walls of arteries opening the way to heart attacks and other fearsome cardiovascular diseases. Yet not only so: this vitamin also performs effective antianaemic, antihaemorrhagic, antioxidant, disintoxicant, antidepressant and antinfectious actions. Yet there are also other vitamins to be found in the pulp, like mineral salts (zinc, iron, magnesium, copper), pectin, organic acids (citric and malic).
Consumption
Its main use is fresh consumption, eaten in segments or squeezed, while it is used in cooking to prepare roasts, salads and sweets. The dry or candied peel is used in pastry. The essence deriving from the peel provides an oil which is used liquor makers, perfumers and chemists
Production area: Syracuse, Catania
Varieties:
Naveline, Tarocco, Moro, Sanguinello, Ovale, Valencia