Fresh Orange Juice (OT)

DownSouth · Dec 23, 2011

Rio Red Grapefruit is the big citrus in our area, but there are some orange trees around. I love fresh orange juice and every year I buy them from a lady near us. She has about 20 acres of grove of which most it grapefruit, but she does have some orange trees. She sells them out of her home mostly to the locals and the winter visitors from up north. I figured she would go up in price this year but she didn"t. I was curious if anyone has purchased any citrus at a grocery and how they were priced.
This basket was $5 and it weighs in at 26+ lbs. so that"s a bit over 19 cents per pound.

OH Boy · Dec 23, 2011

That seems really high to me, couldnt you get her to lower the price a little? :^)

Dell (WA) · Dec 23, 2011

you ain't tasted 'nuttin', till you've tasted TREE RIPE fruit. The oranges you gitt at the grocery store are picked GREEN and dyed orange. When I lived in Los Angeles, I had 7-1/2 orange trees and 1/2-lemon tree in yard. I learned to bake lemon meringue pies, yum-yum ........Dell, who suddenly is hungry fer sumptin other than punkin-pye

OH Boy · Dec 23, 2011

Howdy Dell and Merry Christmas to ya!

I could sure go for some of that fresh juice about now.

OH Boy · Dec 23, 2011

Howdy Dell and Merry Christmas to ya!

I could sure go for some of that fresh juice about now.

rockyridgefarm · Dec 23, 2011

Kwik Trip sells the picked-green-and-dyed-oranges for 3 for $1 here in Wisconsin. I think you did well.

A guy I work with in Kentucky went to Cali this past year and said they have citrus trees growing along the streets with fruit rotting right off them. He and his wife picked loads of fruit right out in the street and ate them.

DownSouth · Dec 23, 2011

Holy Schmolly, I didn't think that would be that darn high priced. I guess that just proves the transportation cost drives the prices way up. I usually buy all my citrus from this gal, and I send her customers too. She picks daily and in the rare event she has any left over she lets them go even cheaper as day old.
I grew up in S. California and I too would pick navel oranges as a kid, usually on vacant lots that were up for sale to build a house on. The developers would buy the groves, knock down most of the trees to divide up the property into lots but always leave a few trees per lot. There was a lot near the elementary school that I walked by every day that had several huge avocado trees and I was always picking those and eating them on the way home. Price an avocado lately? Ouch!

OH Boy · Dec 23, 2011

heh heh just kiddin ya! Thats a heck of a deal and I would snap it up if I could find it, there dont seem to be many orange growers here in Central Ohio though.

John T · Dec 23, 2011

I CANT WAIT till next week, The FIRST thing we buy when we get to Avon Park Florida is the fresh squeezed Honeybell Orange Juice from Maxwells Orchard

ITS THE BEST OJ I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. Once you taste that fresh squeezed right out of the orchard almost the same day you buy it from Honeybell oranges NOTHING ELSE WILL EVER DO

John T

Jim in Ma. · Dec 23, 2011

Here in the North East, The emty basket cost $5.00

GordoSD · Dec 23, 2011

In SD the peels would cost $5

john in la · Dec 23, 2011

We were hit hard by Katrina with over 80% of trees lost. Since it takes about 5 years for a tree to start paying for it self this is about the second year of good oranges.
They are about 4 to 5 $ for a bag about 10 lb size around me from people re-selling out the back of a pickup.
If you go the grove (about a 1 1/2 hr drive south) and stick to buying from the back yard producers you can ususally get the bag for about 2 to 3 $ with 2 being more common.

Around here most re-sellers have Louisiana sweet oranges (hamlin) and satsumas but the navel orange is grown more mostly by big producers.

I would think your price is connected to she sells out of her home only and has 20 acres.
Lets see.............
20 acres x 100 trees per x 200/300 lbs per tree.
That is a lot of oranges to sell out of your house.

DownSouth · Dec 23, 2011

"I would think your price is connected to she sells out of her home only and has 20 acres."

That is a good point John. Most of the groves in this area are picked commercially and hauled to one of the packing plants for shipment to whom knows where. This little old widow lady gets up every morning and her and her dog get on the JD Gator and go to pick some fruit. She doesn"t pick a lot, just what she thinks she will sell. As she sells down, she will head back out for more. She has a trailer on the property where a worker stays and does most of the care for the grove, trim, water, spray etc. but she is the only one that picks. I told her today maybe some day she will let people go out and pick themselves and save her the labor but she said no way because the insurance would be to high. Sounds like she may have entertained that idea once before.
I just hope the old gal lasts as long as I do since I just love the juice I get out of the oranges she raises.

DownSouth · Dec 23, 2011

LOL. Well the basket is mine. She has them in baskets, but will put them in a plastic fruit or onion bag.......but I've been buying them for so long from her I just always take my basket and she pours them from her basket to mine.....although she did offer to swap baskets one time......hers are well used!

Mike (WA) · Dec 23, 2011

In the Pacific Northwest, the guy wants $5 before he will even talk to you about selling some.

I like grapefruit, but I also like a bargain. Store normally sells for about $1.50 a lb., but discount place sells poorer quality ones for 50 cents each. I bought a case from neighbor girl, doing yet another fundraiser (I swear, that girl has raised about a million bucks in her 15 years-She's cute as a bug and smart as a whip- and has her own German Shorthair and her own 12 guage- wish I was about 50 years younger). I think it was about 20 lbs. for 20 bucks, and they're pretty good ones. But not many bargains on citrus around here.

JerryS · Dec 23, 2011

John, you must be in Plaquemines Parish. Back in the early 60s I worked a summer in the oil patch out of Venice. The previous winter had been a bad one, major freeze. All the orange groves were dead. Put the Lulich Orange Wine plant out of business, I think.

john in la · Dec 23, 2011

The oranges I was talking about come from the Plaquemines Parish area. I live north west of there in Tangipahoa Parish. I am orginally from Metairie.

larry@stinescorner · Dec 24, 2011

I ll Trade you 6 baskets of turnips for a half basket of citrus! lol

eastexan · Dec 24, 2011

When I was a kid growing up in the '50s, about all the oranges I remember had seeds. Some were real sweet and some were pretty sour. Now-a-days about everything is seedless (i.e. Navel), and seldom do you get a sour one.

I've wondered what happened to all those type orange trees that had smaller oranges with seeds?
Are they still sold for juice or have those trees been replaced over the years with newer varieties?

Fresh Orange Juice (OT)

DownSouth

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OH Boy

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Dell (WA)

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OH Boy

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OH Boy

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rockyridgefarm

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DownSouth

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OH Boy

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John T

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Jim in Ma.

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GordoSD

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john in la

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DownSouth

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DownSouth

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Mike (WA)

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JerryS

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john in la

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larry@stinescorner

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eastexan

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