Orange tasting

Walking into the SJ&C's conference room (where Literary Journalism has had to relocate to give another professor/class the use of the Mac Lab during that time) was almost like walking into John McPhee's book "Oranges." A clear plastic pitcher displayed frothy yellow orange juice while the block letters on a Tropicana carton, standing beside the pitcher, proclaimed the juice inside was pulp free. Several bags of ripe-looking oranges just begging to be eaten surrounded the containers of juice. (We learned in our reading that, while many people pass over oranges with any spot of green in grocery stores, oranges can be green and fully ripe. The orange colour only happens because of the frost. Some oranges are ripe when they're green while others turn to the typical orange hue we're used to seeing before becoming ripe.) Seven chairs were arranged around the rectangular table, and sitting in front of each was a paper plate and two nesting Styrofoam cups. The only item on the table seeming not to belong in the citrus set was a white box of sugar cubes hiding behind the juice pitcher. Rainey came into the conference room smiling when she saw the spread laid out for our class. We chose seats and waited to find out what would happen during class time today. Dr. Nash and Chris ambled in behind her. "We're going to be doing a taste test before discussing our reading for today," Dr. Nash announced. Angela walked through the door, immediately commenting on how good the room smelled. Emily strode behind my chair. "Oh, good, we get to eat oranges," she said glancing at the table, "I've been craving them since I started reading the book." Dr. Nash had just started to explain how we would use the class period when Aimee opened the door and walked around the table to claim the last empty chair.

That was the start of my most interesting class period of the entire school year so far. Actually it was the best class period since my Advanced Reporting final at the end of last school year, which, ironically, also took place in the SJ&C's conference room. The main difference from that day was the calorie-rich desserts covering the table instead of healthy citrus products. We started today's class period with a taste test of the oranges juices, concentrate versus fresh. Each of us in turn closed our eyes, held out our hands for one of our two Styrofoam cups, and sipped the juice, trying to determine a favourite. The end result was that all five females in the class preferred the Tropicana fresh orange juice (well, Emily said the only difference she could taste was the pulp in the frozen juice, but she still liked the fresh better) while the two males (Dr. Nash included) chose the frozen concentrate. We all agreed the 7-person experiment results were interesting, although not scientific. Then we tried slices of seedless oranges from both California and Florida. Orange experts that we had all become since starting McPhee's book, we easily pointed out the differences between the fruit from each state. (California's oranges have a much thicker peel, look more pleasing aesthetically, and contain less juice. Florida boasts oranges guaranteed to spray juice all over faces and hands while having much thinner skin and a slightly less symmetrically spherical shape.) Next we tried Florida's seedy oranges while copying a strategy of Norwegian children that our book revealed to us. We cut a round hold in the blossom end of the orange, gouging the knife all the way into the fruit and pulled off half an inch of peel around the hole. Then the box of sugar cubes was passed around and each of us pushed a cube deep inside the orange before lifting the entire natural cup to our lips. I have to say, the Norwegians are geniuses! We enjoyed that procedure so much most of us had to try it again with the Californian seed-filled oranges. We ate oranges and drank orange juice to our heart's content before quickly cleaning up sticky hands, faces, and table spaces. Our discussion of the book followed as our stomachs worked to digest the sweet citrus fruit we'd consumed. It was a perfect way to start a class. Now I can't wait to see what we'll do the day we first discuss Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff."