Orange ya glad you found this column

Apr. 11—"If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable — each segment distinct."

— Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Right now I am contemplating my navel. The orange, I mean. That cute round fruit that has a name that doesn't have a rhyming word. The fruit identified by its color.

Whatever the case, orange ya glad I brought up the subject? I hear groaning out there. That is not allowed. No groaning at all. It's mentioned in the fine print (if you can find it).

"Try not thinking of peeling an orange. Try not imagining the juice running down your fingers, the soft inner part of the peel. The smell. Try and you can't. The brain doesn't process negatives."

— Douglas Coupland

I really like oranges. Loved them all my life. While oranges can be found in supermarkets everywhere and at anytime of the year these days, when I was growing up they were a special treat. If you were good boy or girl and you hung up your stocking at Christmas, you might find an orange inside, along with walnuts and other nuts in their shells. Ah, the simpler times. Our desires could be satisfied by simple things and we appreciated them more.

Back to the orange. There are many different types of oranges in two main categories: Sweet and bitter. I'm not going to talk about bitter orange varieties. They're in a bad enough mood without being highlighted here. They're such grumps.

According to the Gardening Know How website (www.gardeningknowhow.com), "The sweet orange (Citrus aurantium var. sinensis) is not to be found in the wild. It is a hybrid, although of which two types there is much conjecture. Most sources seem to settle on the marriage between the pomelo (Citrus maxima) and the mandarin (Citrus reticulata). Confusion surrounds the origin of cultivation as well, but it is assumed to have first been grown in China, northeastern India and possible southeastern Asia. Italian traders carried the fruit to the Mediterranean around 1450, or Portuguese traders around 1500. Up to that point, oranges were primarily used for medicinal purposes, but wealthy aristocrats soon seized upon the fragrant, succulent fruit for themselves."

There are four different classes of sweet oranges: Common orange, blood or pigmented orange, navel orange and acid-less orange.

The website also states that included among the sweet common orange varieties is an original citrus species, the mandarin.

I brought an orange to my desk for the column. So beautiful!!! So orangey!!! So round!!! So firm!!! So wonderful!!! So ... oh, um, well, let's stop there.

It is a unique fruit compared to many others. You need to peel it to get at the inside. What's nice is that the rind can be used in recipes to bring out more orange flavor. Unlike most fruits, it's already pre-sliced. While some people just bite into the whole orange, the best is taking each segment one at a time and savoring the juice and the taste, especially when it's nice and sweet. And if it's a navel, no pits!!! No worries about chipping a tooth and no spitting.

And if you want, you can squeeze out a glass of fresh orange juice, hopefully with lots of pulp. I like the pulp. No letters from the pulp-haters out there!!!

A search of songs about oranges brings up not much. There are songs and poems about the color orange and possibly a brief reference to the fruit, but little else. There is one example that is a nursery rhyme from possibly the 17th or 18th century. It's called "Oranges and Lemons." The words may refer to trades and activities around churches in London, although the lyrics only mention oranges in the first line. A reference I found said the song is played by the bells in St. Clement Danes Church in London to this day. Here are the words:

"Oranges and lemons,"

say the bells of St. Clement's.

"You owe me five farthings,"

say the bells of St. Martin's.

"When will you pay me?"

ask the bells of Old Bailey."

"When I grow rich,"

says the bells of Shoredich.

"When will that be?"

ask the bells of Stepney.

"I do not know,"

says the great bell of Bow.

Here come a candle

to light you to bed.

And here comes a chopper

to chop off your head.

What is it about some nursery rhymes? Chopping your head off? Boughs breaking letting babies fall with the cradles? They can be dreadful at times. Maybe object lessons on how the world works if you're not careful?

So now that you're finished here, go and get an orange to snack on. Enjoy the sunshine!

(Staff writer Usalis can be reached at jusalis@republicanherald.com)