a color story: the curious case of the orange

An orange was orange when I learned colors. Now, I don't see the fruit and color in the same thought. 

I wondered what changed?

Go. The novelty of color wore off on the fruit. For those who never noticed, it never started. 

Adapt.

I googled "history of orange". The tab "Why is an orange called an orange" seemed to be a good start. 

Arabs later traded the fruit and spread the word all the way to Moorish Spain; the Spanish word for orange is "naranja". In Old French, the fruit became "orenge" and this was adopted into Middle English, eventually becoming our orange, fruit as well as colour.

The fruit came before the color.  When I  think about orange, I don't think about the fruit. I think about the work it takes to get to the flesh. 

There was work to get to its orange flesh:

- thumb stabbing the peel

- thumb pulling the peel

- shaving the white stringy bitter parts (pith)

- then dividing the flesh into sizable chunks. 

I saw an orange as a means to a way of vitamin C intake. 

I guess this is why I prefer vitamin C chewables, orange juice. 

Then it hit me. My orange is not the fruit, it is vitamin C. 

Had organic oranges in Miami at Trader Joes. I was hopeful that the oranges would taste better in a sunny state. I was amazed by the taste. I still don't think about the color nor the vitamin C elements. 

I wanted to purchase more bags of these oranges. But Trader Joes was far away. I had my dose of Vitamin C for a week trip at Miami. All that remained were the white side of the peels in the trash.