Oranges, this Season

Oranges! Oranges for sale! Sweet sweet oranges! These are words we often hear from orange vendors when they shout at the top of their voices. Oranges are round fruits usually with orange or green skins which must be peeled away so as to reach the juicy heavenly fruit. When in season it is aplenty and cheap, but when it isn't it is scarce. Some people make orange juice others prefer orange jams, but whichever way, they are still products of oranges. Other people like to eat it fresh as it is.

In the Gambia, starting from April, oranges are rare jewels. But the mysterious thing is that scarce or no scarce people like them. This is what some orange vendors said when I met them.

"We buy oranges, but it is expensive. This is because, the middlemen bring oranges from Casamance and they want their profit," Mareme said. "In the beginning, they give us in a credit form, but now its cash and carry."

No matter how much complains I received, there were some vendors who expressed delight over the harvest this year, which is making it possible for the average Gambian to buy oranges.

Orange- specifically, the sweet orange -is the citrus sinensis, juicy and sweet and renowned for its concentration of vitamin C.

Oranges are the most important citrus crop in the world. They are so abundant and ubiquitous we usually take them for granted. Something about fresh orange fruit makes people feel energized: from that zesty aroma when you sink your fingers into the skin of fresh oranges to the way your tongue feels the juice, and to the way you swallow it.

It is no wonder that they are one of the most popular fruits in the world. Some oranges are round with finely-textured skins that are of course, orange in color just like their pulpy flesh; the skin can vary in thickness from very thick to very thin.

Oranges can be best eaten during breakfast to supply your body with vitamin C so as to start your day, feeling energized and strong. Just one orange supplies 116.2% of the daily value for vitamin C.