Food Any tips for picking out an orange at the store?

i seem to be locked at ~60% of the oranges i select being juicy and delicious. the others tend to be a little dried out or flat on flavor. the thing is i haven't been able to identify the tactile indicators when i inspect them at the store. any tips for my fingers and eyes and nose to scout out the winners?

 

that article is full of good advice on oranges. its right about not worrying about a pretty looking skin on them. I know in florida and probably everywhere else they are all green when they are picked. They test sample oranges from each field to see if they have reached the proper acid and sugar levels. The flavor is going to depend on where they are grown, the variety of orange, and the weather conditions. They need rain or lots of irrigation at the right times to make them juicy and a good cold snap or two to really sweeten them up. The skin appearance is largely going to depend on where they are from. California oranges are usually really nice looking because of the thick skins but while normally not as pretty florida oranges tend to be tastier. There are also a lot grown in south africa, south america, and i think isreal.

 

Touch and smell. Firm with just a wee bit of give works for most fruit. Use your nose also as even a thick-skinned fruit will generally give off a sweet essence when it's just ripe.

 

I always look to see if they are firm and if they are heavy. Heavy means more juice.

As for their sweetness? I just figure more juice means more sweet.

I don't really care about the skin aside from looking for mould or damage.

 

I always go for an orange that has a slightly sweet scent. I also look for oranges that aren't too hard or too soft.

 

eat first. pay later.

if that doesn't work, try and get the heaviest orange (lots o juice) then let it sit in a sunny window sill for a day or two for it to naturally ripen a bit and it'll taste like sunshine and kittens