Oranges in Menorca

Bep Al·lès/Ciutadella - In Menorca, orange production is very scarce due to the north wind on the one hand, and due to the abandonment of orchards suffered for decades when the peasantry left their own jobs of sowing wheat and cereals, in addition to horticulture, to become livestock farmers for the production of milk and cheese, but those who are recovering them see how the consumer increasingly opts for the product of Menorca and also for its flavor, since a fruit freshly picked from the tree where it has ripened is not the same as those that arrive to us in cold storage rooms, where they ripen, and often from countries like South Africa.

Also the change in the production model of the 50s with priority to milk, implied that the orchard and fruit trees became products of leisure cultivation of the farmers themselves or of those individuals who had an orchard dedicating production to their own consumption.

In Menorca, fruit trees were planted in the ravines, to protect the trees from the north winds, and it is there that citrus varieties are still preserved, such as the sweet orange tree, which according to our great friend and botanist Pere Fraga, this tree (Citrus sinensis), like most other citrus trees that are grown for their fruit, is a small evergreen tree that naturally branches in a regular and orderly pattern, which means that this fruit tree is also sometimes valued as an ornamental plant. As with other cultivated citrus trees, its origin is uncertain. It is not a natural species. There is a certain consensus that it is of hybrid origin, but there is not much agreement on who its parents are. The most accepted version would be the result of a cross between the grapefruit (Citrus maxima) and the mandarin tree (Citrus reticulata). Like other cultivated citrus trees, its geographical origin would be in Southeast Asia. Its arrival in the West was relatively late. The first precise references to its cultivation in Europe date back to the first quarter of the 16th century in southern Italy. In all probability, it was the Portuguese who introduced the first plants from India after circumnavigating Africa.

Our island also has a toponym that refers to the cultivation of oranges, formerly called aranges, and that is why we have places with the name S’Aranjassa, which means place where oranges (oranges) are sown, S’Arangí, a small place where citrus fruits are produced, etc.

In the kitchen we have almost no dishes where the orange is the protagonist, except for sweet orange and bitter orange jams and marmalades, in addition to the uses of orange peel in confectionery, as a flavoring for cakes, sweet cakes, although in the recipe books of stately cuisine we have found recipes for orange custards, candied orange fruit and also maceration liqueurs made with orange peels, or orange desserts with honey and cinnamon.