Cara Cara oranges

Cara Cara oranges have just recently shown up in local grocery stores. Novel fruits are always something TPP tries and his life list of fruits is pretty impressive. In this case, the Cara Cara is a variety of navel orange originally from Venezuela and is either a mutation or accidental hybrid, more likely the former because they are seedless like all navel oranges. This variety has only been around since the mid-1980s, and is probably showing up now because production has reached a critical mass. As navel oranges go, the Cara Cara is on the small to medium size and very round. The flesh is a reddish orange color (sometimes labelled "pink" navel orange) although not as dark red as "blood" oranges.  The samples TPP has purchased have a firm texture, and a surprisingly distinctive taste, sweeter than the usual navel orange and with some tropical fruit overtones. Rating: very good! Give them a try if you see them in the market. They worked great in a citrus based fruit salad. Image by WLU courtesy of the wikimedia creative commons.