Seasonal produce
When are navel oranges in season?
Navels are a winter orange. The Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside lists the classic ‘Washington’ navel as ripe from November to January in Riverside, and says it is at its best in the late fall to winter months. In Florida, a UF/IFAS home-citrus guide puts navels in the early season, October to January. Late-season navels stretch California’s run into spring. Dates below name their source and place.
Navel orange season at a glance
California (Riverside): ‘Washington’ navel November to January (UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection; UC ANR Publication 8472). Florida: navels October to January (UF/IFAS, Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape). Late navels: February to June in Riverside (Publication 8472). So late October through January is peak navel time, which covers the December holidays. Outside the citrus states, navels are shipped in, and these windows describe where they grew.
Early, midseason and late navels (California)
UC ANR Publication 8472 charts Riverside bearing periods by variety. Early: ‘Fukumoto’, introduced from Japan in 1983, mid-October to late December, 3 to 4 weeks earlier than ‘Washington’ with a deeper-orange rind; ‘Fisher’, a ‘Washington’ mutation first marketed in 1958, November to January. Publication 8472 says early navels like these are often labeled “early ‘Washington’ navel.” Midseason: ‘Washington’, brought into California in 1873 and “still the gold standard,” November to January. Late: Publication 8472 lists ‘Autumn Gold’, ‘Barnfield’, ‘Chislett’, ‘Lane Late’, ‘Powell’, ‘Rohde’ and ‘Wiffen’ as late or Australian navels, February to June in Riverside: the same fruit as a traditional navel, only later.
Cara Cara: the pink one
UC Riverside’s collection says ‘Cara Cara’ is a mutation found on a ‘Washington’ navel tree in 1976 at Hacienda Cara Cara in Venezuela, later brought to Florida and then California. Most of its traits follow its ‘Washington’ parent, but the flesh is deep pink, similar to the darkest red grapefruit, because of lycopene. Season: November to January in Riverside (UC Riverside; Publication 8472). It is seedless, like other navels (Publication 8472).
Florida navels
UF/IFAS’s Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape lists navels as an early-season orange, October to January, and says if you grow just one citrus tree it may well be an early variety such as ‘Hamlin’ or one of the navels. UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions says navels are the most popular Florida orange because they can be eaten fresh or juiced. A UF/IFAS Okaloosa County article gives the same early-season orange window, October to January, with mid-season oranges December to February.
Why navels have no seeds (and a navel)
UC Riverside: ‘Washington’ navel flowers lack viable pollen, and with no functional pollen and no viable ovules, the fruit is seedless. The “navel” at the blossom end is really a small secondary fruit, and it sometimes protrudes. The same page says the fruit has a slightly pebbled rind that is easily peeled. For juice, UC ANR Publication 8472 points to Valencia, which it calls a standard juicing orange.
How to pick a good one
Citrus won’t ripen once it’s picked. UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions says citrus fruit will not continue to ripen after picking, so buy oranges you would eat now. The UC Davis Postharvest Center’s orange fact sheet lists what the trade grades on: color intensity and uniformity, firmness, smoothness, and freedom from decay and defects such as bruises, skin blemishes and chilling or freeze damage. Use the same checks at the store: firm, smooth, even fruit with no soft or moldy spots. Don’t reject an orange over a green tinge alone. UC Davis’s maturity standard allows fruit that is only partly yellow-orange, or green-yellow if the sugar-to-acid ratio is higher, and it says ethylene degreening, used in packing, doesn’t change internal quality.
How to store them
UC Davis gives the commercial storage range for oranges as 38 to 46°F at 90 to 95 percent relative humidity, for up to 3 months depending on variety and ripeness at harvest. Those are cold-room figures, not home-fridge advice. Signs of age it lists: shriveling and peel injury around the stem end. Chilling injury shows as pitting and brown staining. For your own trees, UF/IFAS says to wash citrus when you’re ready to eat it, not before, to keep its natural wax and stop it drying out, and that ripe fruit can be left on the tree for a few months. UC Riverside says ‘Washington’ navels hold on the tree for several months beyond maturity.
What to eat with them
Peel and eat, segment into salads, or line them up with the rest of winter citrus: clementines, grapefruit and Meyer lemons. For everything else in season, see the December produce guide and the produce checklist.
Recipes and related guides
December produce guide · When are clementines in season? · When is grapefruit in season? · When are Meyer lemons in season? · Produce checklist
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