When discussing the culinary and wine-making excellence of Sicily, the Ribera PDO orange cannot be forgotten. This is a typical fruit of the small and lively town that gave birth to Francesco Crispi.
In addition to this, the municipality of Agrigento is known as the “City of Oranges”, attesting to the absolute quality of its citrus fruits.
The Ribera oranges are in fact known throughout Italy for their sweetness and tenderness, earning the PDO mark in 2011.
The Orange Tree
The orange is the fruit of the Citrus sinensis, or sweet orange, not to be confused with another variety that produces bitter fruits. This tree belongs to the Rutaceae family and is the result of a cross between the pomelo and the mandarin.
This is an ancient graft, dating back over 4,000 years. The combined height of trunk and crown can reach up to 12 meters. This luxuriant growth inevitably requires a warm climate, like that of Sicily but also of Southeast Asia, from where our orange originates.
On the Silk Road
It is in the Chinese area and the Pacific coast that this winter fruit first appears, born from grafting but then propagating in a completely autonomous way.
From the Far East, the orange then arrives in Europe and also in Sicily, but here the sources propose two different hypotheses.
The most accredited one attributes to Portuguese sailors the merit of having imported the citrus fruit into the Old Continent around the 15th century. This is also why in the 19th century the orange was also called “portogallo” (still called “partuallu” in Sicilian language).
Even in the Arabic language, where it had replaced the older Persian term “narang”, which means “fruit favored by elephants”.
Yet, even before the Portuguese, it could have been the ancient Romans the first to taste the delicious fruit, arriving around the 1st century traveling along the Silk Road.
Settlement in Sicily
In fact, some Roman texts mention a certain “melarancia“, which was cultivated precisely in Sicily, whose warm climate is ideal for good orange growth.
The hypothesis is that the orange had really arrived in Sicily at the beginning of the 1st century, but then its spread stopped until the 15th century.
It is also true that in the convent of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, in the capital city, there is an orange tree planted, according to tradition, by Saint Dominic in the distant 1200, probably brought from Sicily.
Following the “rediscovery” by the Portuguese, the orange spread rapidly throughout the Old Continent and also in the New World. This is thanks to its sweet taste and its properties that make it the most consumed citrus fruit in the world.
Diffusion and Varieties
Following the colonial voyages to the Americas, the orange crosses the Atlantic and arrives, among other countries, also in Brazil, which is now the largest producer, followed by the original mothers of China and India.
Italy ranks only thirteenth, but can boast a great variety of oranges: there are at least 40 subspecies, both for table fruits and for juicing.
The island of Sicily can boast a great variety of oranges, both with blond pulp and with red pulp. The latter is the case of the Red Orange of Sicily, which has the PGI (IGP) mark.
Characteristics of the Ribera PDO Orange
As for the Ribera PDO orange, we are faced with a blond citrus fruit, recognizable for its intense-colored peel (which begins to tend towards reddish towards the end of winter) but also and above all for the so-called “navel“.
This is because the fruit has a kind of twin inside, a second fruit of smaller size, which on the outside corresponds to a hollow that looks like a navel.
This excellence has been cultivated for two centuries: there are several testimonies of the presence of magnificent oranges in the valley of the Verdura river, with very sweet water, which somehow passes to its fruits.
A specialty that concerns not only Ribera but all the municipalities of the valley, extending in the province of Agrigento from Menfi to Cattolica Eraclea and also reaching the Palermo area, in the territory of Chiusa Sclafani.
The fact is that from the post-war period onwards, we start talking about the Ribera Orange, today known as the city of oranges.
Uses and Customs Related to the Ribera PDO Orange
The cultivation of this magnificent fruit can be done starting from new citrus groves but also from the reconversion of old ones.
The Ribera PDO orange is then distinguished into three varieties, based on the characteristics of the fruit and the harvest times:
Brasiliana, available from the first days of December to the end of May; Washington, also from the last month of the year until the end of spring; Navelina, harvested instead from November to late February. A characteristic of the Ribera PDO orange is that, after the harvest using scissors, the fruit undergoes no treatment other than washing with drinking water, in order to preserve all its qualities. Qualities that make it a highly appreciated citrus fruit even on its own in the evening, due to its very low acidity, but also the perfect protagonist of a refreshing juice.
The Ribera PDO orange is then used as an ingredient in various dishes, such as duck à l’orange. Its peel is also used for the production of candied fruit, essential in cannoli and cassatas.
In short, a more unique than rare product, now widespread and known abroad but that is essential to Ribera and the Verdura river. For this reason, as mentioned, in 2011 the European Union awarded the Ribera Orange the PDO mark (the only orange in all of Europe that can boast of this).
Fun facts
The orange is also known for its nutritional properties, especially due to the presence of vitamin C. Mothers agree, as the orange is an essential natural remedy for treating flu symptoms. In the past, it was also common to consume the “capillaire” immediately after meals: a long coffee characterized by the addition of orange peel.
The orange is also the protagonist of the myth of the wedding between Jupiter and Juno, with the latter bringing oranges as a dowry, a symbol of fertility.
