Did you know?
- Citrus fruits are actually a kind of berry with a tough, leathery rind, known as a hesperidium.
- A single citrus plant can have as many as 60,000 flowers, but only 1 per cent of those flowers will turn into fruit.
- Citrus fruits that are grown in tropical climates without a proper winter will stay green on the outside. That’s because citrus fruit needs to get cold to turn orange or yellow.
Oranges
- Oranges are one of the most popular fruits in the world.
- There are more than 600 different kinds of oranges.
- One orange gives you all the vitamin C you need for a whole day.
- There are usually ten segments inside an orange. Count them next time you eat one!
- Navel oranges get their name from the thing that looks like a belly-button on the bottom of the orange.
- The colour orange is named after the fruit, not the other way around.
- The flowers of an orange tree are white and have a wonderful smell, so they are used in making perfumes.
Lemons
- The lemon is an evergreen, which means it produces fruit all year round.
- One lemon tree can produce up to 600 pounds (about 300kgs) of lemons a year.
- Most lemon trees live for about 50 years, but they can live for more than 100 years.
- The leaves of a lemon tree can be used to make tea and add flavour to cooked meats and seafood.
- You can make a battery by attaching electrodes to a lemon. Several lemon batteries can power a small digital watch. To power a flashlight bulb, you’d need 500 lemons.
- The heaviest lemon ever grown was recorded in Kefar Zeitim, Israel. It weighed 5.265 kg (11 lb 9.7 oz), had a circumference of 74 cm (29 in) and was 35 cm (13.7 in) high.
- Lemons were once presented as gifts to kings because they were so rare.
Tangerines
- A tangerine tree is much smaller than most of the other citrus fruit trees.
- Tangerines are easier to peel than other citrus fruits and are sometimes known as ‘easy peelers’.
- Tangerines are named after the place from where they were first shipped to Europe – Tangier in Morocco.
- Tangerines used to be nicknamed the ‘Christmas Orange’ because they were often stuffed in children’s Christmas stockings.
- Because tangerines are easily crossed with other types of citrus, about 200 different types of tangerines have been created.
- Tangerine essential oil can be used to help soothe anxious feelings and manage stress.
Grapefruit
- A single grapefruit tree can produce over 1,500 pounds (about 700kg) of fruit.
- A grapefruit is 92 per cent water.
- When grapefruit was first discovered in Barbados it was called the “forbidden fruit.”
- Haitians love grapefruit jam and in Costa Rica grapefruit is cooked to serve as sweets. For a moreish dessert, stuff them with dulce de leche, known as candy milk.
- Fresh grapefruit come in several colours including pink, red, white and golden.
- They are called grapefruit because they grow in bunches like grapes.
- There is a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine called the tangelo.