We can consider ourselves much more fortunate than the people of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Today we can enjoy a delicious glass of orange juice in the morning - while in ancient times there was not a single orange in all of Europe or Africa.
The orange has its origin in China, where it was already eaten before the year 2000 BC. Arab traders brought the orange to India and the Near East before the ninth century, and Muslims used to cultivate the fruit on the lands they conquered, including Spain, Sicily, and North Africa. The Crusaders brought the orange from Palestine to France, and by the late Middle Ages the fruit was well known throughout the Mediterranean.
The fruit that was grown at that time was not the sweet orange that we eat today. It was called the sour orange, which was smaller and less rounded than the sweet orange, with less juice, less sugar, and a characteristic sour taste. Today, this type of orange is grown mainly in Spain, and is used for jams and some drinks.
Sweet orange appeared in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, perhaps brought there by Italian or Portuguese merchants from the East. During the 16th century, the Spaniards brought the fruit to the New World and Florida. Today, Brazil and the United States are the world's largest producers of oranges.
The biggest orange on record weighed more than 1.8 kilos!
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