When Do You Harvest Bitter Orange?

Bitter oranges or sour oranges are oranges that do not taste sweet when fully ripe. The most widely grown bitter oranges are Seville, Bouquet and Bergamont. The fruits of these trees are used for essential oil, marmalade and herbal medicine--particularly as an appetite surpressant and diet aid. You can harvest bitter oranges from the late fall into the spring, depending on the region and climate in which they grow.

Harvest

All varieties of citrus fruits, including the bitter orange, can be tricky to harvest because they pass from immature to fully ripe to over mature while remaining on the tree. Rind color is an inadequate indicator of ripeness because citrus fruits reach their full color well before the fruits contained within have attained full maturity. The only true way to tell if the fruit is ready to harvest is to pick one and taste it. In the case of bitter oranges this could prove to be a fairly unpleasant experience as the fully ripe fruit maintains its characteristic sour flavor.

Picking

Once you determine by tasting that the bitter orange is ready to harvest, begin by picking the fruit on the lower branches first. Fruit that is closer to the ground is more likely to have damage by frost than those found in higher up branches. To remove the oranges, gently twist each fruit to separate it from the branch or cut it away with sharp clippers. Take care to remove the fruit without causing any damage to the underlying branches of the tree.

Storage

Unlike other fruits, bitter oranges do not continue to ripen once plucked from the tree. Inspect the oranges carefully and only store those whose skin do not have scratches, broken or bruised. You can store bitter oranges in moist, cool conditions for up to three weeks with no loss of quality. Kept at room temperature in dry conditions, you can store them for approximately 10 days.

References

• The Organic Delivery Company
• Old Fashioned Living: Orange Season
• Purdue Agriculture, Horticulture & Landscape Architecture: Sour Orange