-->
Did you
know where does it come from the name “orange” and other
curiosities of Valencia?
The name
“orange” comes from the old Provencal
auranja meaning
"golden color-like", which results in Spanish naranja. The
term would come from Indian languages like Sanskrit which contains
the prefix naru/nari which in the sense of “fragrant”. Then
golden-color and fragant-smell are the two most important qualities
of this exotic fruit. In German, another name is "Chinish apple"
(Apfelsinne). Oranges were known in the Middle Ages since they came
from Persia and bitter- orange ornamented gardens and patios of
Andalusian style. In the fifteenth century sailors brought the first
sweet orange to Portugal and Spain around 1560. It came first from
India to african lands as Mombasa (Kenya). Were they small varieties
such as tangerine or mandarine?
Orange
production in the world, 2010
The truth is that in Valencia,
specifically Carcaixent tradition exists according to which around 1781 the priest
Vincent Monzo begun to dedicate dry-land to cultivate the first
commercial orange fields. He had tasted first the oranges from the
nearby closter of a Dominican sisters convent and liked the taste.
That same year he asked the the pharmacist Jacinto Bodi to bring back
some small Lemon Tress from Murcia in order to make a graft of
tangerines on them., of neighboring Murcia feet of sweet orange
grafted lemon. This day was to born the sweet big orange of an
appreciable size. The notary of the town Carlos Maseres, join the
venture, and create the conditions for exploitation in irrigated
lands and the basis for export through the port of Denia, Gandia and
Valencia to northern Europe, as well as by railroad since 1855.
The orange and the Mediterranean diet
The
best known varieties begin in Seville and Valencia, with tangerine
and clementine, follow with the Navel, Navelina and Sanguine crops
and end by June in Valencia itself with the variety Late (or
Navel-Late).
The most recognized variety because its flavor is
the Navel orange. Its origin is worth a look back to History. The
Spanish and Portuguese navigators from the sixteenth century carried
the Orange to South America. Three centuries later, in 1820, in
another monastery, this time in Brazil, there was a second mutation
resulting in the "orange-navel", whose main feature was
that at the base of the fruit, just to the other side of the peduncle
, a small atrophied orange that resembles a navel appeared. The
Brazilian monastery became a source of continuous cuttings because
otherwise there was no genetic variation at the tree. Next was
developed a new one, called "naveline" with a crust easy to
peel and the aforementioned "navelate".
Navel Orange
Carcaixent,
Algemesí and Alzira, the river Xuquer Bank (“Ribera alta) offer
top quality oranges of this kind.
With regard to its marketing
should be mentioned that as well as in Andalucía some British
families reamined after the war against Napoleon, as those names like
“Osborne” and “Domec”. In Valencia the same happened with
other families, some of Irish origin, as the “Trenor” one, who
engaged in the export of this “golden fruit”, obtained large
tracts of land and and ascended in social status getting wuch titles
as “Marquis”. They finnally bought a well-known monastery of
name “San Jerónimo de Cotalba”, protected in past times by the
Borjas Family.
Orange also has been the subject of artistic
designs around the world to show how nice and tasteful orange circles the
world.
Small Orange-Snake
Orange designed by a Mexican artist
Finally
at our tour around this region, we made a short stop at the “Huerto
de Maseres” and -why not?- at an splendid lunch at the leisure area
surrounding the Garden of Soriano. Is it not like an italian Tuscany
in Valencia?
"Hort de Soriano" "Hort de Masseres"
 |
| Overview on the "soriano" valley |
Thousands of foreigners visit this land why don't you?
Jvn
