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HERE is no edible fruit in America which both grows so abundantly (through the southern-the semitropical portion) and is at the same time so little known or understood and in consequence so little appreciated or considered adapted to practical usage as is the wild or sour (as it is known in the South), or the Seville orange, as it is properly termed. And this fact seems the more strange the further one looks into it, since Americans travel so extensively and this orange is so highly prized for numerous purposes throughout Europe and the British Isles (to say nothing of other countries and continents), whether there grown or merely imported. This may perhaps be explained by the fact that as a nation Americans are eaters and drinkers of sweet stuffs and that to be told a fruit is sour is to consider it uninviting and uninteresting even as to name: something to "forget." And so, when the use of the Seville orange is read of (with no special mention of its acidity) it is not connected with the "sour" orange; it is already truly forgotten with other disagreeable matters, and it is taken for granted that the Seville is some variety of the common, sweet orange. There is a "Sweet Seville," but it is never mentioned by those really familiar with oranges without the distinguishing adjective, for it is a mere namesake and all sweet oranges (unless we except the mandarin-tangerine group, whose history is rather indefinitely blurred in the hazy mass of ancient Japanese and Chinese pomology) are parvenues beside the sour or Seville orange. Even the Oriental varieties just mentioned and the sweet orange trees which for centuries have been found growing on the Himalayas probably came from the sour stock originally, so evidence and opinion seem to emphatically indicate. The Moors took this orange to Spain. From just what particular spot they may first have imported it, it is difficult to say at this distance of time, but from that period (the beginning of the eighth century, A. D.) until into the fifteenth century, the sweet orange was not known or cultivated in Europe while the sour orange was greatly cultivated. The Greeks and Romans seem to have known nothing of any variety of orange and so, although biographical sketches of Adam, Eve, and the Grecian and Roman gods may by scoffers be classed irreverently as equally and only allegorical, one fact may be depended upon (!) that, as compared with their first parents, the Europeans were hopelessly matter-of-fact, since the apple of Paris was literally an apple, while botanists declare the forbidden fruit of the Garden to have been undoubtedly an orange or other member of the citrus family-whether true or typical. (The admirers of the chiramoya claim that fruit as Eden's temptation, but neither this fact nor those people who would decry the Seville as sufficient to drive anyone from Paradise need be considered.) The imported Moorish orange was planted in great number in and about the city of Seville, singly and in groves, and immediately so flourished and grew in favour that it became widely known as the "Seville" orange and by this name is still recognised throughout Europe where-in Italy and other countries, as well as Spain-it is a commercial crop of importance, whether exported in natural form or otherwise (the peel, dried or candied, or having undergone distillation for flavouring or medicinal purposes).
THE WILD "SOUR," OR SEVILLE ORANGE 203 It is now generally conceded that the Spaniards introduced their adopted fruit into Florida during their earliest explorations, although the seed and soil were so eminently adapted to each other and the fruit of their union was so prolific that "wild orange groves were soon to be found all over Florida and in consequence some authorities have declared it must be native to the Gulf regions. The Bitter- Sweet (C. aurantium vulgaris) is but a variety of the Seville, though Manville, in describing it as a "tree indistinguishable from the sour," terms it the "Native wild orange of Florida." In flavour this variety is exactly what its name indicates, both bitter and sweet. Most of the wild orange groves have been killed in some one of the several descents to freezing temperature during the last century, or have been budded to sweet varieties, as the sour stock is generally immune from foot-rot and has all over the world proven less susceptible to extreme cold or drought than the sweet stock.
The Aurantium bigaradia, as the Seville is scientifically termed, is smaller than the sweet orange tree, more generally inclined to be spiny, and its leaves more truly elliptical, though both these points vary. The oil cysts are concave, the general texture of pulp and rind heavier and coarser, and the flavour quite distinct from the common sweet orange. The flowers are similar in form and fragrance but susceptible of much variation by cultivation and Europeans are familiar with varieties of the bigaradia cultivated exclusively for their floral beauty, as, the Nosegay Plant, or le bouquetier of the French, these blossoms growing at the end of the branches in thick clusters. Other varieties are the double-flowered bigarade, the myrtleflowered and the bizarre bigarades, the last of which has purplish-white flowers, and fruit which curiously varies in form and flavour. Throughout the semi-tropical 1 portions of North America the original, simple form of the imported Seville orange trees, blossoming and fruiting, also offer abundance of beauty to the eye and nostril. But the average tourist fails to appreciate this ultimately because of lack of proper introduction, the taking for granted that this is the sweet orange of common popularity, and the consequent shock on discovery of its peculiar acidity. This results in sudden coolness, the dropping of the slight acquaintance, and injury to the wild beauty's reputation and standing in society, whereas, were it but known that the Seville is the proud descendant of the ancient Spanish line and one of the few remaining tangible traces of the days of the gallant Spanish explorers, all this would be avoided. It is particularly a pity that the average Northerner misses so simple yet so great an intellectual and gastronomic enjoyment since the season of the Seville is longer than that of the usual sweet varieties, lasting well into the spring when sweet oranges are scarce and high in price. In time, however, the Seville will doubtless come into favour as has the grape-fruit (or pomelo), through similar experience, for it was but a few years ago that the pomelo was not appreciated; there was no demand for the few shipped north and the remainder, almost without exception, lay upon the ground until decayed because even in the South it was supposed that, although exceptional, depraved palates might be educated to the point of imaginary enjoyment, the pomelo could not be fit for cookery in any form and even uncooked, separated from all "rag" and served with sugar, the result was extremely doubtful. From the fruit of the Seville much of the citric acid of commerce was manufactured until quite recent times.
From its flowers most of the Oil of Neroli (one of the bases of eau de cologne and liqueurs) is made, although the sweet orange flowers are also used to a limited extent, and the THE WILD "SOUR," OR SEVILLE ORANGE 205 oil of bitter oranges is distilled from it. The smallest green oranges, sour or sweet, are usually saved in Europe as they drop, and are dried to be sold as "orange berries" for various uses, or to be made into Curaçoa. The peel is dried for medicinal purposes, the resultants being employed in stomachics and general tonics. The flowers, also, are dried and preserved in Europe, being considered a gentle nerve stimulant when infused in boiling water (two drachms to a pint) and a cupful of it taken once in a while throughout the day. One of the chief uses of both flowers and peel is to disguise or flavour other less-pleasing medicinal preparations. It is never recommended that the peel of orange be eaten in its natural form; too much of rind (the Seville's particularly) would be apt to affect one unpleasantly from the strength of its oil. The sour oranges themselves are shipped in great quantity for making up into the famous bitter Scotch Marmalade so much in evidence at British breakfasts, where its tonic qualities are considered to entirely offset any possibility of too much "sweet." Orangeleaf tea (from sweet, sour, or bitter-sweet trees) is much used all over the southern countries as a preventive or cure of fevers, even during scourges of "Yellow Jack." As a foundation or component of cooling summer drinks nothing is more delicious than the aromatic, acid juice of the Seville and it is vastly superior to lemons for "Russian tea." Even the lime cannot outclass it for flavour and it has almost equal power with the lemon in killing typhoid germs. For the table it may be halved as is the grape-fruit, cutting out the centre and dropping therein sugar, letting stand a few hours, but this should be only at its very ripest stage. It is an excellent substitute for vinegar or lemon juice with salads and a general rule may be laid down that the Seville may be used in any way that the lemon, lime, and sweet orange are employed, allowing for varying degrees of acidity. Several individual and distinctive methods of usage are the following: