http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2010/01/hamlin_oranges_juice_up_mornin.html

Juice up your mornings with Hamlin oranges, not navels

By Special to The Oregonian
January 19, 2010, 12:00AM


Doug Beghtel/The OregonianWhen it comes
to making juice, not all oranges are created
equal: Skip the navels and ask for Hamlins for
juicing. Add a splash of tangerine to enhance
the color of this fruit's delicate sweetness

By PETE PETERSEN
Special to The Oregonian

As we avid home juicers wait for the California Valencia orange crop to arrive in spring, we can fill the void with a different variety of juicing orange right now.

Hamlin oranges grown in Arizona and Texas move into our market between January and March. Their flavor is delicately sweet, but their light-colored flesh yields paler juice than Valencias, and there's a bit less zing.

When I juice Hamlins for my early-day tonic, I usually add a bit of tangerine juice to punch up the color and tartness. Tangerines are prolific this time of year and add a spicy zest along with the bright color I like to see in a glass of OJ.

I recently had a visit from a native Texan who prefers adding Rio Star grapefruit to her morning tumbler of orange juice. She noted that now -- with the storage supply of U.S.-grown Valencias depleted and new production just beginning -- it's the perfect time to experiment with citrus other than oranges.

Of course, she was here to promote Rio Star grapefruit, and she was "just so pleased to let y'all know about our famous red fruit." Although I can give her credit for an interesting combination, and it works for color, it's not one my palate enjoys -- at least not for juice.

I'll warn you off navel oranges for juice as well. The navel is great for eating out of hand and is in great supply this time of year, but they fail as a decent choice for juice. Within a few minutes after squeezing, the juice becomes bitter.

Look for: Hamlin oranges are round and smooth-skinned with a dark yellow to dull orange color. The peel is thin. You will find the most juice in midsize fruit -- about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Smaller and larger fruits yield a higher ratio of peel to flesh.

If you want to buy Hamlins a box at a time, ask for fruit counts of 88, 100 or 113 units per box. Fruits this size will give you the best yield, about 1 3/4 gallons a box.

Like the Rio Star, the Hamlin thrives in parts of Texas and Arizona where winds create a near-constant rustle. Dangling in these conditions -- amid branches and leaves -- gives the smooth-skinned Hamlin the look of a tough guy. Expect to see scuff marks and even a few healed-over gouges on the fruit. You buy these for juice rather than fruit-bowl appeal.

Examine the skin carefully, and avoid any fruit with soft spots, powdery blue-green mold or hardened areas that almost surely conceal dried-out flesh.

The best Hamlin should feel heavy for its size. It's common, late in the season, for it to be a bit soft. This is OK as long as the skin retains elasticity and the fruit maintains a weighty feel.

When and where: Hamlin oranges are available now through March at most stores, particularly those that offer boxes of juicing fruit.

To store: If you can, hold Hamlin oranges at about 50 degrees. That's a tough temperature to maintain, but most closed garages this time of year stay near that temperature. Storage below 50 degrees (i.e. the refrigerator) contributes to breakdown of the flesh.

Basic preparation: The Hamlin is a juice orange, so halve it and squeeze the juice out with a manual or electric juicer.

Its thin skin makes this orange difficult to peel by hand. Your best bet is to use a thin-bladed knife. Slice a 1/2-inch-thick disk off each end of the orange. Place one of the flattened ends on a cutting board. Place the blade between the flesh and skin of the fruit and slice down, following the curvature of the orange, to cut the peel away. Repeat until all the peel is removed, then carefully slice off any random pith that you missed.

To remove the flesh between the membranes, slice along the white lines that run between the segments. Working over a bowl, use your knife to flick out the flesh, leaving the tough membranes behind. When you've removed them all, give the remaining membranes a good squeeze to extract all the juice.

Pete Petersen is a Portland produce expert. Reach him at peteonproduce@sterling.net.