Author Topic: Best tasting blood orange?  (Read 1561 times)

SDPirate

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Best tasting blood orange?
« on: April 04, 2023, 02:50:15 PM »
Hi all,

I don't know that much about citrus but I really enjoy blood oranges.  Can someone point me in the direction of the best varieties that are worth obtaining?

caladri

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2023, 02:56:58 PM »
Might be helpful for you to say what you enjoy about them, and which varieties you've tried :)

SDPirate

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2023, 03:01:26 PM »
Ok sure I just enjoy the flavor profile, particularly the ones that have a lot of dark red flesh.  I think the one that I get from the local hispanic market is Moro blood orange but I'm not sure.  I may have had another variety once but the flesh was a lot lighter and closer looking to an orange and I don't have the faintest idea what variety that one was.  I was looking into the different varieties and was interested in the red Smith blood orange but have no idea how that one tastes.

pagnr

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2023, 02:46:24 AM »
Moro is on the smaller side, round, no neck and can have dark berry / chocolate pulp and juice. There is also a level of climatic / chill effect on the pigmentation in Blood Oranges.

martweb

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2023, 12:55:31 PM »
Maybe Tarocco ist the best?

brian

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2023, 08:36:51 PM »
I grew moro, sanguinelli, and tarocco in my greenhouse for 3-4 years.  They didn't produce much fruit despite vigorous growth, and what fruit they made was not all that good tasting, and I have since dug them all up and replaced with mandarins.  Might be my environment, not sure, but with so many excellent mandarins it felt like a waste to give them space. 

I have had some really excellent tasting Moros from the grocery store, but most batches were poor (from the grocery store).  I'd love to try some high quality tarocco and sanguinellis from an old tree to see how they are at their best.

sc4001992

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2023, 08:55:01 PM »
I ate a few blood oranges, my recently grafted Tarocco #7 orange is pretty good to me. It tasted better than the other orange that was purchased from a farmers market, looks like it might be a Moro. I have Rhodes Red Valencia, not very good, similar to taste to Valencia. Also have the Smith Red Valencia but no fruit yet. Cara Cara is much better tasting than all of these.




John B

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2023, 01:31:23 PM »
From my experience of what Brian and Kaz mentioned is spot on. I've eaten Tarocco 7, Moro, and  Sanguinelli from local people. Not from agrocery store. The Tarocco and Moro were from the same grower and I did prefer the Tarocco, so a couple years ago, I got budwood of Tarocco 7 and Moro to graft into my Cara Cara.

If you consider a Cara Cara a blood orange, it blows all the others away in flavor but will not have a dark deep blood pigment but is likely the one you tasted that was lighter. As Brian mentioned for some reason the true blood Orange is or shy to bloom. Here's a picture of my character tree of one side of my Moro and Tarocco grafts. It only has a few blooms. The other side is the Cara Cara and another navel variety that is loaded.








sc4001992

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2023, 05:18:05 PM »
John, your tree looks very healthy. Seems you will be having lots of fruits next season. I grafted my Tarocco #7 on 1/21 and it I only let it hold one fruit so I could taste it. Now the grafted branch has lots of flowers so will probably let it hold 3-4 fruits for next season. I did notice that the Tarocco did not get any coloration of the flesh, and the rind color is orange so it may not show any red color in my location. My Sanguinelli never shows red flesh either.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2023, 10:34:00 AM by sc4001992 »

brian

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2023, 09:23:52 PM »
I always got light to moderate flesh coloration, minimal peel coloration.  For me valentine pummelo and red grapefruits color up well (beta carotene pink doesn't reaquire much cold to develop) but I never got anything close to the dark purple flesh (anthocyanin?) with Moros, it must require near freezing temps.

They certainly were not bad tasting, just not as good as a top quality batch of grocery store mandarins,  navels, or caracara
« Last Edit: April 08, 2023, 09:28:36 PM by brian »

SDPirate

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2023, 01:08:16 AM »
Thanks for the opinions, I was just trying to get an idea.  I love throwing some blood oranges in lemonade to make a nice flavor, so while I do eat them sometimes, I really like that they have this orange flavor with hints of berry.  When I make it with other oranges, it just becomes too orange-y for me personnally.

John B

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2023, 08:40:03 PM »
Interesting about flesh pigment. I thought just rind coloration was affected by cold, not the flesh. Really growing the true blood oranges for garnishes or for cocktails, so didn't mind if I get a big crop. But, if they don't turn bloody, I will graft something else.

sc4001992

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2023, 10:15:33 PM »
John,

Your Moro blood orange should turn red inside, it does say it is the most red/deeply pigmented of all blood oranges.
I have a variegated blood orange and it does have the dark red pigmentation even though the outside rind did not show any red. It also tasted very good so that was a pleasant surprise, but the fruit size is on the small size.


Millet

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Re: Best tasting blood orange?
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2023, 12:40:54 PM »
The warmer the local climate, the less amount of red coloring in Moro .