Citrus fruit

CHOOSE

Firm, heavy citrus fruits with vibrant, blemish-free skins. Avoid those with dull, dry, very rough or spongy skins.

When choosing navel oranges, go for those with small navels – a large navel indicates the orange was overripe when picked.

STORE

In a cool place out of the fridge and eat within a week of purchasing. Oranges do not ripen after harvest, but, surprisingly, lemons do.

RINSE

Citrus fruits before use, even if you are discarding the rind, as pesticides can come off on your fingers and be eaten.

DID YOU KNOW

• Orange juice enhances the body’s ability to absorb medicine, so down a glass before taking your daily dose.

• Half a grapefruit provides all the vitamin C your body needs in a day.

• Lemons and limes are the richest source of minerals and vitamins of any food known to man.

• The calcium in fortified orange juice is absorbed better than the calcium in milk.

• A single grapefruit tree can produce nearly 700 kg of fruit in a productive year.

• Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

• The grapefruit got its name from the way it grows in clusters (like grapes) on the tree.