Research-the Chinese Apple

The Orange originated in Southeast Asia, some languages call it the "Chinese apple".

There are many different varieties of oranges;

a) Persian Orange

This orange was brought to Italy in 15th century by the Portuguese and India traders. It's also called the "sweet orange", and is the most common variety cultivated today.

Interesting side note; this is what was planted a long trade routes to prevent scurvy......hmmm I can't help but think of pirates. hehehe 

b)Naval Orange

A mutation in 1820 of an orchard in Brazil yielded this seedless variety. Where a twin orange grows on the base of another. See picture below

Because this is seedless there is no way to spawn new trees, so cutting and grafting is required. To this day we still use this technique.

c)Valencia Orange:

A sweet orange used for juice extraction. This is a late-season fruit, popular when Naval oranges are out of season.

side note: This was chosen as a Mascot in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. "Naranjito"

e) Blood Orange:

These have streaks of red in the fruit, thus given the name. The juice is dark Burgundy in colour.

Southern California was a huge producer of Valencia Oranges with a company you may have heard of....Sunkist. This possibly led to the name of "Orange County". Unfortunately the rising cost of property in the area during the 1990's moved most of the orange agriculture to Florida.

Brazil is still the top producer with 17.8 million tonnes of oranges. US is second with 8.4 million tonnes.