Here’s a question: If one of the sweetest oranges I’ve ever had came from a peel that looks like this, then what is the US government doing to make our oranges look. . .well. . .orange?

As is normal for me, I went online to do a bit of research and came across this website on the history of oranges that seems to know it all. Apparently, oranges start off as green, when they’re mature.

It will turn orange only if the cold temperature destroys the green chlorophyll pigments, allowing the yellow carotenoids underneath to show through. In warmer climates, oranges are always green; but, in the US, oranges are green only if they are picked in the fall before the first cold snap or if they are picked early in the spring when the tree is flooded with chlorophyll to nourish the coming new growth. Green oranges will also change colour if they are exposed to ethylene gas which, like the cold, breaks down the chlorophyll in the skin. Oranges are often dyed to attain the orange colour that consumers demand.

~Innvista

Let’s tag this one up to foreign exposure. For one, I didn’t know that the orange originated in India. Fun. Second, why is it more appealing to us if our oranges look orange? And third, what is this ethylene stuff they’re mentioning? Does it cause any damage to the human body?

Well, I have found out all of my answers. Turns out that you can’t spend your whole life being paranoid over every little thing, but this was an interesting lesson to learn while being lazy on a Saturday afternoon.