Candes Saint-Martin, my favourite spot in La Touraine.

Sunday 30 March 2014

'SunKist'

As I mentioned before, we are having the most wonderful spring. However, sometimes our weather people tend to get carried away.

Today's forecast was for this :

A bright yellow/orange sun, blue skies and temperatures up to 23°C.

What we got was this:

Milky skies, no sun and temperatures in the high 10's.

Mind you, I'm not complaining, because this time last year we were still shovelling snow.

Back to the orange and the title of this post. When I was a little girl, our regular orange brand was called 'Sunkist'. I was only 5 or 6 at the time and English was still an unknown language to me. 'Kist' being the Dutch word for 'crate', I thought these orange were named after the crates they were transported in. It was only later that I realized that SunKist was an ingenious play of words: Sun Kissed! And they were, because - at the time - they were considered as THE best oranges. Today the best oranges here in Belgium are the 'Papillons' (Butterflies). Like most of the 'common' fruits we get here Belgium, they are of Spanish origin.

These Papillons oranges are pip-less and very juicy. Two of them will leave
you with 250 ml of fresh, home-made orange juice
.

We also get apples from France, kiwi's from France or Italy (in summer) and Australia or New-Zealand in winter. Some years ago, there was much ado about a large container ship making its way from New Zealand to Belgium. Aboard were - can't remember how many - tons of yellow Zespri kiwi's. The first ever in Belgium. They were a big success, and still are. Wonder if they grow them in France and Italy too?

5 comments:

Amanda said...

The kiwis you mentioned might be the golden ones without the fuzzy skin. They are delicious and more expensive than the green ones. Harder to find too.
Hope your temperatures go up very soon.

GaynorB said...

I remember Sunkist orange drink. You could buy it at our local cinema, but I always thought that it tasted of plastic!

Leon Sims said...

Martine - I have to say we are so spoilt by local produce here in Australia, yet we are always excited when we visit French markets as well.

Louise said...

Martine, I am enjoying an 'Indian Summer' here in Sydney, balmy nights and clear skies during the day...perfect for walking my new little grandson under the leafy trees. I remember Sunkist as a fizzy drink in a can, far removed from a lovely, freshly squeezed juice!

ladybird said...

Nadege, My mother is fond of golden kiwis. I prefer the regular green ones.

Gaynor, We had a similar drink too. It came in pyramid-shaped carton boxes, didn't it?

Leon, You are the lucky ones, but I agree with you ... French markets are 'out of this world'.

Louise, You are so right. Sunkist drinks didn't even come close to the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice :)