Blood Oranges EAT NOW!

Do you remember when you could only eat fruit that was in season?  California green grapes in the summer--plums and peaches only when ripened on the tree--not by tanks of some kind of lethal gas and let's not even go down the strawberry path let alone the tomato.  And bing cherries?  They were only available for a few weeks in the summer.

I have a theory.  People who love antiques also fondly remember the seasonal fruit days and would welcome them back in a heartbeat. Antiquers have an appreciation for the past and history and a slower time when we could savor life more.  Not hurry through it to the next thing.  I have found this generation's seasonal fruit to slow down and savor--blood oranges.

I came on to them years ago while living in England--in the incarnation of blood orange marmalade.  I contend that any marmalade purchased in England tastes better than that purchased elsewhere.  Blood orange marmalade is the color of a sunset and when made by a small batch kitchen or purchased from a stall at an English country church or jumble sale--all the better.  Dear Husbola and I stayed at at a swank townhouse hotel in London years ago--and a dense chocolate cake was accompanied by a dollop of yorkshire made blood orange marmalade.  Incredible flavor combination.

How can you not be intrigued by the flavor of a fruit that looks like this?

They are only available in northern Illinois in January.  I haven't a clue where they come from.  Yes--they increase my nasty footprint on the earth because I am not eating only local fruit.  But try one--you will be hooked.