Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you eat the seeds and poop them out somewhere nice? I think that’s what the grapefruit intended.
No that's silly. Everyone knows that when you eat a seed like that, the plant grows in your belly.
this made my day
What killed the Florida orange?
61–70 of 187 posts
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#62This reminds me of the collapse of the Gros Michel banana variety, also due to disease. Near-100% loss of a food crop, even a luxury one, is an alarming thing to see though. (I was wondering if climate change would be mentioned, but that doesn't seem to be critical there yet. Starting to be noticed in European grape terroir.)
Did this banana have seeds!? I've never seen one, but it looks awful. They were actually good?
I never had one, but apperently they tasted much better then the current variety (which IIRC, is in danger of suffering the same fate)
IIRC, there was actually a huge marketing push because people wouldn't each the current variety ?
PS - the old one didn't go 100% extinct, and you can get small numbers of them from specialty growers. Youtube has videos of people trying them (1)
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#63Looks like premature collapse of a monoculture due to excess stress, much of it a result of human effort.
It's not monoculture, it's Florida's climate being the perfect environment for the psyllid that causes the disease. California's drier, less humid climate has been more resilient to the bug.
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#64It's not who killed it, it's what killed it and the answer is greed.
For anyone not aware, the most proximate cause of the disappearance of "Florida Orange Juice™ " is the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria. Monoculture is often blamed, but the bacteria affects all citrus trees - oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, etc.
According to the article, the reason why the bacteria was so quickly fatal for Florida orange trees is that their roots were weakened by a sequence of major hurricanes and by many years of excessive pesticide use.
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love concord grapes so much. Im eagerly awaiting their annual return to the farmers market (early September). I love them so much the vendors know to get me and tell me when they are here. I don't understand why the demand for them is small.
I also deeply miss the limes. The halfway-to-yellow actually ripened limes that didn't even show up some years. If I knew for sure when they would be available I'd certainly make a trip across the country to eat those limes.
Those lines are just hanging out on the trees around for most of the year! Best storage for citrus is on the tree.
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#66It was a sad day for me when I realized that a glass of orange juice(or any juice in general) isn't much better for your health than a can of soda and probably even worse than diet/zero coke.
Most artificial sweeteners have metabolic side effects, and lead to weight gain. You’re probably better off drinking cane sugar soda because it is more filling than HFCS soda. Anyway orange juice is probably better still. At least it has some vitamin C and maybe trace fiber in it.
> Most artificial sweeteners have metabolic side effects, and lead to weight gain.
So does sugar. Everything ever credibly published on the effects of artificial sweeteners say four things:
1) everything else held equal, artificial sweeteners unequivocally reduce weight gain vs consuming equivalent sugar because sugar is 100% empty calories
2) some artificial sweeteners (e.g. sucralose) may increase appetite vs equivalent sugar, causing you to possibly eat more depending on which ones you consume
3) various artificial sweeteners may have non-weight-related negative effects on the body related to cardiovascular health, gut health, and so on
4) sugar definitely has a whole bunch of non-weight-related negative effects on the body related to cardiovascular health, gut health, and so on
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#67The Florida Orange was NEVER the Florida Orange to begin with.
Of note from the story: "...because it came from China, where oranges also came from in the first place." Technically yes but also no, what we have for the modern navel orange came from a mutation that happened in Brazil in the 1800s - 200 years after its introduction from China. The parent trees for literally the entire navel orange (aka Florida aka Sunkist orange) industry are in Riverside, CA, I see them every day driving to work. The now-deceased Queen of England used to get two boxes of oranges from those very trees every year.
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#68It was a sad day for me when I realized that a glass of orange juice(or any juice in general) isn't much better for your health than a can of soda and probably even worse than diet/zero coke.
Most artificial sweeteners have metabolic side effects, and lead to weight gain. You’re probably better off drinking cane sugar soda because it is more filling than HFCS soda. Anyway orange juice is probably better still. At least it has some vitamin C and maybe trace fiber in it.
There seems to be little to no evidence of any negative effects from just about any artificial sweeteners. I mean shoot, Aspartame immediately breaks down into some of the most common amino acids in the body. There's no biological mechanism for it to do anything negative.
Sugar, on the other hand, has very well known and studied health risks at the concentrations we see in a lot of modern 'staples' - soda and juice included.
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#69The John McPhee article that the author references was expanded into a book, and it's a great read for anyone that finds this story interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Oranges-John-McPhee-ebook/dp/B005E8AN...
Re: What killed the Florida orange?
#70[deleted]