Navel oranges from Costco

For all you navel orange lovers, Costco has 19 lb. boxes - 28 oranges per box for $11.99. These are big, gorgeous juicy oranges! I think it's a great buy. Has anyone else gotten these?

%^)

Pretty good deal ... a 40 pound box of fancy grade 56 count navels sells for $6.34 on the truck ... add the freight, handling at the warehouse, redelivery to the store, and retail markup and the $11.99 price for one-half a carton looks pretty good ... I'm sure the farmer has mixed emotions - he's losing his ass on the fruit but at least the store is trying to increase movement at retail which, if successful, will eventually raise the price ...

Clink !

%^)

[Jenise]

Linda, given the volume of produce Costco sells nationwide, there's a strong possibility that the box of oranges you bought isn't available--or from the same grower--as oranges I'd buy way over here on the opposite coast. But that aside, great buy! Maybe you should try your hand at orange confit !

%^)

While there are a scant few navels grown in Florida and Arizona, 95%+ of the navels in any store this time of year comes from the Central San Joaquin Valley in California ... the crop volume is 90,000,000+ 40 pound cartons and should be available until May ...

Clink !

%^)

[Jenise]

%^)

While there are a scant few navels grown in Florida and Arizona, 95%+ of the navels in any store this time of year comes from the Central San Joaquin Valley in California ... the crop volume is 90,000,000+ 40 pound cartons and should be available until May ...

Clink !

%^)

Oh, I realize, but they still don't come from the same grower. Certainly what I bring home, batch to batch, are not identical in flavor. (If only they were! I had the BEST Satsumas in California a few weeks ago, but none I can buy here, though California fruit, are as good).

Got some lovely navels in my CSA basket last week. Best use so far is in Chapalas:

1 1/2 oz. fresh navel orange juice
3/4 oz. fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/4 oz. triple sec
splash grenadine
1 1/2 oz. good Reposado tequila (I used Cuervo Tradicional)

Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a martini glass. Drink. Try hard to stop at one. Or two.

Oh, I realize, but they still don't come from the same grower. Certainly what I bring home, batch to batch, are not identical in flavor. (If only they were! I had the BEST Satsumas in California a few weeks ago, but none I can buy here, though California fruit, are as good).

%^)

You're right, Jenise ... sigh ... there's nothing like tree-ripened citrus ... unfortunately like everything else in the fruit world, if the grower/shipper waited for the fruit to become tree-ripe, it would not take the ride from the farm to the distribution center, from the distribution center to the store, and from the back room of the store to the produce rack in the produce department ... our industry is CONSTANTLY trying to come up with new ways to harvest the fruit more mature AND have it make it to the produce rack but that requires the use of new fungicides and heavier wax coatings, the likes of which turn off many consumers ... that AND colder transit temperatures which robs the fruit of some of it's flavor ... bottomline, it's a no-win situation ... Wal-Mart's business model of "just-in-time" inventory control that many other major chain stores are attempting to replecate, with little success I might add, probably comes the closest to succeeding ... as one of the largest suppliers to Wal-Mart, I also deliver to my local Wal-Mart's for their "locally grown" program ... I can tell you that the three supercenters located in the Yuma area alone use more of my citrus in a week than what I put on many of Wal-Mart's trucks that deliver to their mammoth distribution centers ... I believe that part of the reason our local Wal-Mart's use more is because of both the freshness and the eating quality because the fruit in our local stores is so close from harvest ...

Clink !

%^)

[Jenise]

Well, I don't know that the ones I had in California were farmer-direct, but that's beside the point--all the vagaries of distribution sure have an impact. This has not prevented me from pursuing every Satsuma I see, mind you, looking for one as good as the first ones I bought. You remind me that it's time for Cara Cara oranges, too, which I love at this time of year. I'm a citrus-aholic.