A Florida orange this time of year is almost surely a Valencia. If the fruit had a navel, then it would be Washington Navel; but that does not appear to be the case. Due to the weather in Florida, their oranges do not get that nice orange color that is common in California/Arizona/Texas; that is why most of the Florida crop goes to juice. The inside is the same no matter the skin color.

As John mentioned citrus fruit orange skin color is primarily caused by exposure to cooler temperatures near the harvest season. Here in Louisiana we have early season Satsuma which may be green when ripe in late September or early October due to being harvested prior to the first cool weather of the year, depending on the weather.

Thanks so much can John and Ike! I couldn't be sure if it was worth buying because I like to eat my oranges fresh. I've been having fun sprouting seeds from citrus that have tasted really good too so I've been eyeing those juice oranges since winter. The dull color threw me off but it makes sense if they were grown in Florida

Well, the label clearly says Florida oranges.

Now that you mention it, I remember seeing fresh citrus fruits in Puerto Rico. I read told that they did taste pretty darn good, but color wise, they were pretty ugly! Correct me if I'm wrong, but citrus that are grown in true tropical regions, don't color up the way we think they would. One of, if not the best tasting citrus I ever tasted, was from a navel Orange that I picked fresh in Scottsdale, Arizona. They had a perfect balance of sour and sweet flavors. On the same property, there were 3 or 4 huge lemon trees. I'm not sure if they were Eureka or Lisbon. The lemons were 3x's the size I was used to seeing in the grocery stores! I have been to Arizona, Texas, and Florida, and I have to say, the best citrus came from the south west!

Valencias will even LOOSE colour the later they are harvested. In March and April mine are a nice orange colour. Now they are yellow and if I leave them on the tree longer they will start to green.

Andrew it depends on the type of citrus, some varieties need summer growing heat, some need cooler weather near harvest time to get sweet. An example of this is Satsuma Mandarins which are traditionally grown along the upper gulf coast, mostly in zone 9a / 9b as they need the cooler weather to sweeten up, and under perform when grown in south and central Florida.

In Puerto Rico they sell oranges on the street with a straw; they are all juice and seeds; so you squeeze the orange and drink the juice... Amazing sweet flavor.

My bet is that it is a Valencia. We get them at work and they look the picture above.

John that was probably the first time they've had a proper label on the juice oranges! Every other time I see juice oranges they're piled up in an unlabeled basket. I'm also pretty newbie to citrus and I thought there might've been many varieties of juicing oranges.

nik I never knew that could happen to citrus. It would be such a nightmare if you had left for a vacation when it is green on the tree and came back to find it is still "green" but in actuality, it already went past the orange spectrum!

Andrew I'm not surprised that the citrus there would be delicious. I think most non-hardy citrus tend to sweeten with hot weather and sun. I can't imagine grapefruit tasting as good anywhere else as the ones grown in Texas.

Denise thanks for chiming in to ID the orange! Do they give Valencia oranges at work to eat fresh rather than juicing them?

That would have been a long vacation..

Kvetch, yes, the oranges are used to eat fresh rather than juicing. The folks who do the ordering do not know one orange from the other. Occasionally, we get mandarins in. The last time we got some, I was excited, but that didn't last long as they turned out to be very sour.

Hahah as someone who grows citrus it must be funny seeing that. You might just have to bring your own mandarins and show them what real citrus taste like!

The concept of re-greening in oranges happens after they have reached their peak maturity; and the tree starts to take back nutrients from the fruit. It will still be orange; but will get a tinge of green and actually be a bit sweeter.

kvetch, I have taken in home grown and store bought fruit to work to show my co-workers the differences. They were amazed when I brought in some purchased Sumos. Until I started growing my own citrus, I didn't know much about the different varieties on the market and the citrus industry doesn't really make an effort to educate the public either.

Denise,

The citrus industry does not want the competition. You can learn more here.... at times even from old curmudgeons like me.

They're very lucky to have you working with them Denise. They get a taste of what real oranges and mandarins taste like!

Yep you're right about that John. Everything I've learned about citrus so far has mostly come from this forum!