Introducing the Cara Cara Orange

Sometimes I eat something so good that I just have to make sure you know about it. 

You might be thinking this is an ordinary orange.

However, looks can be deceiving.

While the skin is bright orange, the interior flesh is a beautiful rosy pink, much like that of a Ruby grapefruit.

The Cara Cara was discovered in 1976 in Hacienda de Cara Cara in Venezuela, and are now grown in California.  They’re a variety of seedless Naval oranges and are thought to have been created by accident.  It seems most don’t know exactly what other variety the Naval might have been combined with — I love when natural accidents create beautiful things.

The Cara Cara is less acidic and slightly sweeter than most other oranges, with a subtle berry-like taste, making it unbelievably delicious.

While I’ve used the Cara Cara in recipes, they’re really the best on their own —  in fact, they’re amazingly perfect!

I love to slice them like this to eat them.  They’re divine any which way, but there’s something so magical about slicing into one to reveal the stunning color and texture.  It’s like stained glass.  Delicious, succulent, extremely juicy stained-glass, that is.

The first Cara Cara I tasted was sent to me from Melissa’s Produce (where you can order them if you can’t find them in stores).  They should be in most markets at the moment — I’ve seen them at Gelson’s and Costco — with a dozen per bag.  To give you an idea of how good they are, I single-handedly ate the dozen within a couple of days, and had there been more, I would have eaten them too.  I generally believe in moderation – don’t judge. 😉

The Cara Cara oranges are usually in season from December to April.  Get them while you can!

This is not a sponsored post.  Melissa’s Produce sent me Cara Cara samples.

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