Blood orange is a citrus surprise: startling fruit, handsome tree

Sunset, April, 1985

Despite their sanguinary name, blood oranges (pictured in color on page 250) are delicious: sweet and tangy like 'Valencia' oranges, but with a hint of raspberry flavor. Specialty produce dealers sometimes charge as much as $2 apiece for blood oranges imported from Italy or Spain, where they are market mainstays.

With their startling fruit, blood orange trees make ornamental additions to the garden. This spring, California and Arizona nurseries have a bigger supply of trees than usual. And April is one of the prime months to plant citrus.

The light area of the map below right marks where blood oranges can be successfully grown. In this region, they usually receive enough summer heat to develop adequate sweetness. (They need more heat than lemons do.) Even so, there is great variation in skin and flesh color, as well as in sweetness; you may get some surprising results. Scientists haven't pinpointed the reasons for this variable pigmentation and sweetness.

Some growers blend the juice of blood oranges with other citrus juice to impart a rosy tinge and the berry taste. In coolest areas, blood orange juice may be tart; try blending it with sweeter 'Valencia' orange or mandarin juice. Blood orange slices, suffused with red or purple streaks, make attractive garnishes.

We list the three most available varieties (harvest times can vary by climate). Trees are sold as standards (to 20 or 25 feet all) and on dwarfing rootstocks that keep them half standard size or less. Plants in 5-gallon cans sell for $15 to $25.

'Moro'. Produces 2-inch fruit with dark burgundy flesh but only a blush of red on orange skin. Internal color develops well throughout region. Spreading, vigorous tree bears January to April.

'Sanguinelli'. Produces oblong, 2-1/2-inch-long, dark red-skinned fruit with red-streaked flesh throughout region. Compact tree bears February to May.

'Tarocco'. Produces 2-1/2-inch, red-blushed fruit with darker red flesh. Reliable color and sweetness in hot interior valleys; variable in desert and near coast. Rangy, vigorous tree bears February to April.

To plant in the ground, pick a spot in well-drained soil with full sun. Dig a hole at least twice as wide as the rootball. Before refilling the hole, mix a high-nitrogen fertilizer plus plenty of compost or other organic matter with the backfill soil. Don't bury the trunk and deeper than it was in the nursery container. (For a dwarf tree, you can also plant in a container such as a half whiskey barrel.)