Clementines and satsumas.
They arrive in the dead of winter, in the slough of November, when the days are dark and everything's drained of colour, little bright juicy balls of Spanish sunshine, and they get even better as the days get still darker then peak at Christmastime and in early Jan when all the choc and booze and rich food leaves you craving their clean-sweet citrussy tang even more. Super-sealed by Mamma Nature for freshness, handy-sized for lunchboxes, easy peel and easy split, those bijou juice-packed segments. I'm having one right now with my cup of tea and all this blethering, Yum.
Prince Buster - 'Shaking Up Orange Street' (1964)
(Er....I haven't got an mp3 of 'My Darling Clementine').
Blood oranges, which also appear about now - sharp and sweet all at once, usually a pale orange suddenly blushed with red. Often from sicily. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteDo you know, I never have.
ReplyDeleteWe have not yet mastered the deep frying of Tangerines up here.
ReplyDeleteI love em dipped in chocolate and put in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteGreat tune, although it makes me want to go and listen to Madness now.
*walks away from the computer in the style of Madness circa 1979*
Not finding that hard to visualise, funnily.
ReplyDeleteoh davy go for the bloods messy and scary and gorgeous. norman on berwick street'll sort you out. 5 for a pound. tell him i sent you and he'll probably throw in a few extra. he's ace is norman
ReplyDeletex
Are they easy peelers? I hate that lose a fragment of your thumbmnail thing that happens with yer tough oranges.
ReplyDeleteThey're easy enough but a sharp knife pole to pole and round the equator will have the skin off easiest of all.
ReplyDeleteKinnel - he's suddenly the man from Del Monte.
ReplyDeleteHere in the 3rd World, we didn't see them until the 1980s, when Sir Wally Ramsbottom returned from his Missionary position at the Castello al Swamp just outside the leper colony at Islas Van Deferens.
Prior to citrus fruit - riddled with scurvy and gum disease - my main treat was licking fat scrubbed from the bottom of a copper pan.
Love, love this song.
ReplyDeleteDef can link it to orange songs in my kitchen :)
Excellent post.
.. and then, when I heard that Bolton had Rickets, I was amazed.
ReplyDelete(Although not as surprised as when I heard he'd made the England team).