In the medieval and early modern period, this bitter fruit was probably the first orange to be known in the West. I am also the author of a number of books and many papers on the history of food and have curated many major exhibitions on food history in the UK, US and Europe. The older ripe oranges get a thicker skin as the weather heats up, and can last through to summer if allowed to remain on the tree. The nuts were collected before the hard shell formed and were processed in a similar way to the green oranges. The VSO office sat huddled in concrete, two floors above the Red Cross, just off Siaka Stevens’ Street in the throbbing heart of Freetown.

There are a number of early 18th century Scottish manuscripts that have the same recipe for preserving oranges whole. Mike told us the two main reasons for volunteers being med-evacced were motorcycle accidents (not a problem for me, I wasn’t going on any motorbike) or psycho-vaccs. The dried fruit will last for years and is the perfect addition for any shelf, mantelpiece or centrepiece. La Chapelle in "Le Cuisiner Moderne" has a recipe for seringue fritters (Entremis des Bignets Seringuez) that uses " œuf de bon beurre, de l'écorces de citron verds râpé, de l'écorces de citron confit, de la fleurs-d'orange pralinée", this goes into "The Whole Duty of a Woman" as "a Bit of Butter, the Bigness of an Egg, with some green Lemon-Peel rasp'd, preserved Lemon Peel, and crisped Orange-flowers".Enjoy traditional Christmas elements while embracing a modern sensibility, perfect for styling a tray or table centerpiece. The sweet orange did not appear in Europe until the early seventeenth century when it was brought to Lisbon from China by Portuguese plant collectors.

Glasse also used this book as the source for many recipes in her earlier work The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy (London: 1747). After working for two years in New Zealand, she became a GP in York and then set off for two years in Sierra Leone with Voluntary Service Overseas – just in time for the outbreak of civil war. The Seville, or the bitter orange ( Citrus x aurantium) appears to be a hybrid between the pomelo ( Citrus maxima (Burm. But green oranges give sweet orange juice and, if the people of Sierra Leone can remain so optimistic, so can Dr Em.Dr Emily Joy, a not-quite-qualified family doctor, arrives for two years at a remote hospital in Sierra Leone. According to Emily: “Fruit grown in warmer [climates] doesn’t develop a deep orange color and sometimes keeps some green on its skin. I first came across the practice of preserving immature green bitter oranges in the 1970s when I lived on Crete.

Surprisingly, the green peel doesn't harm the orange and may actually make its fruit even sweeter, if that is possible. So it is therefore highly possible that Seville oranges were being imported into England in the eighteenth century very late in the season, as Mrs Raffald's receipt suggests. Our dried green orange slices are treated naturally to retain their colour and fresh smell really well.It is a receipt for the sale of lemons, Cheanay oranges (sic), Sivill oranges (sic) and isinglass to Sir Peter Warburton, the owner of Arley Hall, by the Manchester grocer Mrs Elizabeth Raffald.

When the older crop starts to regreen and the newer one start starts turning orange, telling them apart is a serious challenge. Dried whole green oranges are perfect for creating a rustic natural Christmas flower arrangement or wreath ring.Other immature green fruits such as hard unripe apricots, almonds and walnuts were also once preserved in this way.