Orange: Which Came First – the Fruit or the Color?

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Which came first, the fruit or the color orange? The answer depends on whether we are tracing the English word or the Sanskrit or Old French versions which predate the English translation by several centuries. The fruit was known early, but described generally as being “yellow-red” or “red-yellow” in color.

The village of Orange in France was founded about 36 or 35 BC. It was named Arausio initially and the Principality of Orange was apparently named for that place and not for the color. The color was adopted by the House of Orange-Nassau after the sixteenth century, and the color began to be associated with Protestantism due to the afore-mentioned House of Orange siding with the Protestants in the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) and the Dutch Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648).

The word was absorbed into Middle English from the Old French and Anglo-Norman orenge during the 13th century and was used for the fruit. It was roughly another three centuries before the word came to mean the color of the fruit. The color may have come from the word naranja, (Sanskrit) or naranj (Persian).

Let’s look quickly at the development of the word orange. Nathan Bailey defined it [1675] simply as the fruit grown in an orangery, but orenges [sic] were said to be little “balls of an orange color”. As late as 1869 Noah Webster’s etymological dictionary defined orange as fruit and orangery as a place where oranges were grown. He made no mention of it as a color. In 1887, Chambers defined it as a fruit and a color composed of red and yellow. Finally, in 1900 Walter Skeat said the word derived from narenge, “but with the initial n lost (in Italian), and then arenge became orenge by a popular etymology from gold. Naranja – an orange – Ital. arancio, an orange – Pers. Naranj, narinj, narang, an orange. “ – “A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language.”.

The Orangemen or Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal society founded in Belfast in 1795/6 and named for William of Orange (Protestant) who defeated the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

This was a very brief look at a broad topic, but those interested in more on the early history and etymology of the word can continue where I’ve left off. Let’s look at a few early mentions of the word in English.

Christopher Columbus reportedly brought oranges to the New World in 1493 and by the mid-16th century Spanish explorers, probably Ponce de Leon, had orange trees planted around St. Augustine, FL.

Jose de Acosta, 1590, wrote a page on the orange groves in the Indies.

George Sandys documented oranges growing while touring France and Italy in 1610.

Noah Biggs discussed the merits of oranges in 1651, London.

William Hughes said, “There are in America, in most of the Caribbee-Islands, many orange trees naturally growing in the woods and deserts, where are as yet no inhabitants nigh them; as upon Hispaniola and Cuba; but especially upon Jamaica, where are the most that ever I saw at a place called Orange-Bay, where they grow so plentifully, that they are the only trees of that place…”. [1672]

Richard Ligon found orange trees as well as lemons in Barbados, 1673.

The French Gardener, 1690, listed Bigarrades, China, Spanish, Genoa, Portugal, and Province oranges.

In The Present State of Europe, oranges and orange trees in flower were set before King James and his wife, 1698.

Richard Bradley documented the presence of oranges, lemons, etc. in English kitchens in 1727.

John Bartram and William Stork quoted a letter written from St. Augustine in 1765 saying oranges grew well in East Florida.

Thomas Ashe described groves of oranges in Louisiana and noted they, “thrive to the highest perfection”. – “Travels in America”. 1808.

Both sweet and sour oranges were growing around Charleston, SC by the early part of 1800. – Guthrie, William. “A New Geographical, Historical and Commercial Grammar.” Vol. II. 1815. Philadelphia.

Oranges from Florida were sold in the markets in Philadelphia by 1825/26 as noted by Karl Bernard. “Travels to North America During the Years 1825 and 1826”.

Oranges were left in Christmas stockings because they were expensive, having to be transported long distances to most households. Receiving apples, oranges, and nuts was a tradition that carried over into my own childhood. My uncle bought a case of each every year.

Eighteenth century cookery writers had various ways and means by which oranges were used. Below are a few simple early recipes.

ZEST OF CHINA ORANGES. Pare off the outside rind of the oranges very thin, and only strew it with fine powder-sugar as much as their own moisture will take, and dry them in a hot stove.

ORANGE CAKES. Take out the inside, picking out the seeds and skins; boil the rind till tender, changing the water; dry and chop it, put it to the inside; to one pound of this, one pound of sugar; boil it candy high, first well wetted; take it off the fire, stir in the orange, scald it: when almost cold drop it on plates. Dry the cakes in a stove. – Charlotte Mason. 1777.

TO PRESERVE ORANGE-FLOWERS. Pick the flowers, and little oranges and stalks and put them in your glasses, but one in a glass just fit for them, and boil the syrup till it is almost a jelly, then fill up your glasses; when they are cold, paper them up and keep them in a dry place. – Charles Carter. 1761.

ORANGE SHRUB. Take two gallons of soft Jamaica rum, one quart of fresh lime juice, eight pounds of refined loaf sugar, consolidate them together, then add twenty-four sweet oranges, and twenty-six lemons cut up fine; in about two weeks it will be ready for use. This will make very delightful Punch.

ORANGE COMPOTE. Is made without boiling the oranges; they are only to be peeled, cut in slices, the core taken out; add some syrup or sugar in powder, and the juice of an orange. William Jarrin. 1829.

ORANGE AND LEMON WHIPT CREAM. Rub or rasp on a piece of sugar the peel of two fine Seville oranges; scrape off the sugar as it imbibes the essence, mash it very fine, and add it to your cream. Lemon cream is made in the same manner.

Various authors gave recipes for orange marmalade, orange jelly, orange wine, orange brandy, orange shrub, etc. See a previous post regarding the early growth of oranges around New Orleans and Mobile.
Blissful Meals, yall. – THF.

ORANGES: Flavoring Agent & Sweetmeat©

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Orange juice, peel, or zest, was used in a variety of foods through the 18^th century and into the 19^th, and because I like to use ingredients that were available for the time and place of my demonstrations, I took a look to see if using them would have been within my means in the mid-18^th century at Ft. Toulouse in Lower Louisiana.   [Today Alabama]

I found several tidbits regarding oranges being grown around Mobile and New Orleans at that time and since I’ve documented several traders coming into this area, I feel quite comfortable with having them in a quantity enough to use in recreating some of the receipts from that era. 

Sister Marie-Madeliene Hachard was a nun in a convent in New Orleans and her letters to her family back in France speak of several foods available to her, including oranges.

Reverend Father de Beaubois has the most beautiful garden in the city.  It is full of orange trees, which bear oranges as beautiful and sweet as the ones in Cape Francais.  He gave us three hundred sour ones that we preserved.

That passage tells me that oranges were plentiful in that area, plentiful enough that baskets of them could easily have found their way up river to Ft. Toulouse for trading with the French and maybe the natives. 

Peter Joseph Hamilton wrote that Bienville grew oranges in his orchard in 1719, and that Haldimand thanked Rochon for trees and oranges in Mobile in 1768.  Oranges were included in the list of items he documented as being exported from Mobile. 

Le Page du Pratz, an early 18^th century trader in the area, also commented on the availability of fresh oranges. 

The orange-trees and citron-trees that were brought from Cape Francois have succeeded extremely well…The oranges and citrons are as good as those of other countries; but the rind of the orange in particular is very thick, which makes it the better for a sweet-meat. [candied orange peel]

Hamilton wrote that, “by the [17] twenties, the culture of indigo had been added to that of rice and tobacco, while the fig-tree had been introduced from Provence, and the orange from Hispaniola”.  With that passage we see that the orange trees in Lower Louisiana came from more than one area, therefore, were most likely somewhat different in characteristics.   

Nichols elaborated further saying, “In America there grow oranges of all sorts in great plenty, and as good as in any part of the world, and some as bad, for there are both sweet and sour, bitter and insipid.”

In addition to Cape Francois and Hispaniola, Herbermann left records of oranges having also been brought from San Domingo.  Since Father Boudoin died in 1766, he also confirms that oranges were growing in the area during the occupation of Ft. Toulouse. 

Father Boudoin, S.J., the benefactor of the colony, who had introduced the culture of sugar-cane and oranges from San Domingo, and figs from Provence, a man to whom the people owed much and to whom Louisiana to-day owes so much of its prosperity, alone remained.

A passage from the Louisiana Historical Society penned in 1917 echoed Herbermann’s opinion.

They were aware that to the Jesuits Louisiana owed its sugar cane, its orange and fig trees…

In 1854, the following passage was written regarding the citrus of the New Orleans and Mobile area which gives us a hint as to the flavor of some of the early fruits. 

The sweet Seville orange-tree is indeed cultivated in the neighbourhood of New-Orleans, but liable also at that place to be destroyed by frost.  [1819] 

Du Pratz agreed that cold killed the trees but that they came back from the roots the next season.   

The orange-trees and citron-trees that were brought from Cape Francois have succeeded extremely well; however I have seen so severe a winter that those kinds of trees were entirely frozen to the very trunk.  In that case they cut the trees down to the ground, and the following summer they produced shoots that were better than the former.  If these trees have succeeded in the flat and moist soil of New Orleans, what may we not expect when they are planted in better soil, and upon declivities of a good exposure?

Even though the trees grew back from the roots and produced a good quality orange, doing so would have slowed down the production until the trees were of sufficient size to produce again.  Perhaps we should ask how often such a set-back occurred and for that answer we look to The Christian Advocate, 1899.

Low Temperature in Louisiana—The orange trees of Louisiana for one hundred years stood the winter, but within twelve years they have met with three severe shocks.  Oranges suffer in any temperature under fifteen degrees above zero.  Old trees can stand colder weather than younger.  Until within twelve years the temperature in Louisiana never got below fifteen degrees.  The last shock, a short time ago, went to five or eight degrees below, in the orange belt, and an examination leaves no doubt that the orange groves are destroyed…

The California Illustrated Magazine agreed that the Louisiana oranges had done well until roughly 1880.

Formerly oranges were grown quite extensively in Louisiana, but during the last decade the trees have been repeatedly frozen down and the industry is now practically destroyed. 

I found it harder to document the growth of lemons than oranges in Louisiana, but the following newspaper clipping seems to indicate lemons may have been grown there as well.  “The climate of the north is temperate, and the soil yields apples, pears, peaches and other fruit.  In the south it is warm, and oranges, figs, and lemons flourish.”  [1841]

How did the quality of the oranges compare to those in other lands?  The Mobile Herald said Louisiana oranges from New Orleans and Pascagoula were, “generally larger than the ones raised in the neighborhood of Havana and much superior in flavor.” 

The Shaddock:  …the pulp is juicy and sweetish.  The plant forms an excellent stock for grafting other kinds upon; the fruit makes a splendid show at table, and is found cooling and refreshing.  It has been grown successfully in the open air in the city and vicinity of Mobile.  M. Boiteau considers the “forbidden fruit” of the shops to be a variety of this species, but others make it a variety of the lemon.  [1854]

We’ve  documented that citrus was grown and relatively plentiful in and around New Orleans and Mobile.  We’ve documented that the seeds and trees came from various locations and that there were probably several types of oranges grown in the area.  Next, we must ask ourselves how would traders have gotten baskets of oranges to the French and Creeks at Ft. Toulouse.  Hamilton again provides the answer.

The French usually carried on their trade from Mobile by river; there was, however, a land route to Fort Toulouse.  There was also a good road running through the Choctaw Country west of, and not far from the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers by which the Choctaws traded with the French.  Another road ran from Mobile to the Chicasa towns.  There were likewise routes by which the traders from Pensacola reached the Choctaws and Creeks. 

In Part II of this article we’ll look at some ways oranges were used in 18^th century receipts.

SOURCES:

From The American Farmer’s Magazine.  Vol. 6, I. 1.  May 1854.

Hamilton, Peter Joseph.  Colonial Mobile.  1897.  Boston.

Hamilton, Peter Joseph.  Colonial Mobile:  An Historical Study, Largely from Original Sources. 

Du Pratz, Le Page.  The History of Louisiana:  Or the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina.  1775.  London.

– The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review.  Vol. 4.  H. Biglow, Orville Luther Holley.  Jan. 1819.

Herbermann, Charles George.  The Catholic Encyclopedia.  1911.  NY.

Louisiana Historical Soc.  Publications.  1917.  New Orleans.

Hamilton, Peter Joseph.  The Colonization of the South.  1904.  London.

The Christian Advocate.  March 2, 1899.

Peter Parley’s Common School History.  Goodrich, Samuel Griswold.  1841.  Philadelphia.

June 6, 1849.  Reported in the Niles National Register. 

The Letters of Marie Madeleine Hachard 1727-8.  New Orleans. 

Hachard, Voices From an Early American Convent 1727-60.  Edited by Clark, Emily.  Boise State Univ.

The Californian Magazine.  Oct. 1891. 

Nichols, John.  The Gentleman’s Magazine.  Oct. 1795. London.