Where do you order your Florida oranges?

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I would like to get a bushel of Florida navel oranges delivered. In the past, we ordered from Hale Groves, but the last time we got them (a few years ago), there were several bad oranges in the box and the whole thing smelled bad. When I called customer service to complain, the woman made me take out every orange and inspect it for mold and decay. She decided that only half of the bushel was bad and the rest were perfectly fine even though they had been right up against the moldy oranges. They shipped us a new half-bushel, and THOSE oranges were really good. But the "perfectly fine" oranges from the first bushel smelled like mold and tasted like mold, too.

Basically I got really annoyed with them, and in the past we had ordered a bushel or two most years.

So where do you order your Florida navels from?

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Here at the Supermarket.
Want me to send you a box?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I would not even consider any place but Sun Harvest:

http://www.sunharvestcitrus.com/

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

What do you do with 60 - 120 oranges?

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

What do you do with 60 - 120 oranges?

DH really likes citrus, and he can't have grapefruit bc he's on cholesterol medication. Also we have five people to eat the oranges; the bushel only lasts us about a month. Plus it seems like all our friends would like to snack on an orange when they hear they're fresh from Florida.

I buy grapefruit at Costco, where they're really good, but the oranges there aren't so great.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm considering all plus this place, which a foodie friend recommended: http://www.nokomisgroves.com/

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

I asked dh and he really likes Hale Groves. We've also used Indian River, but he likes Hale better. Sorry.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

all our friends would like to snack on an orange when they hear they're fresh from Florida.

Hmmm! That's how folks feel about me, too.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Just wanted to add that I saw a few weeks ago on I think it was on DR OZ that Oranges help to calm people down.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Oranges seem like they're really good for you, don't they? BTW, did you know that Dr. Oz is a neighbor of mine? He lives in the next town south of us, in Cliffside Park.

We have a cartoon on the refrigerator that shows a bunch of broccoli smiling as it is talking on the phone, saying, "Really? Dr. Oz said that about me? On TV?"

I ended up ordering from Nokomis Groves. The prices are good and they have a 5% discount for ordering before November 15. It sounded like a store--they got one particular lady on the phone to take my order. I scheduled the delivery for early January because they don't ship as often as the bigger places.

But now I'm thinking about ordering another bushel from JLB's place for the very end of the orange season, in late January. They look good, too, and so does Harvey Groves, which was recommended on TUG.

Checking out all the places was pretty interesting because the price of the oranges is fairly consistent, but the price of the shipping varies quite a bit. One place had a great deal on the fruit if you ordered two half-bushels, but then they charged shipping AND a $10 per box handling fee...which meant $20 for handling before you even got started with shipping.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I asked dh and he really likes Hale Groves. We've also used Indian River, but he likes Hale better. Sorry.

Do you order at the end of the season? The later the better, I've heard.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Here at the Supermarket.
Want me to send you a box?

Do you get good Florida navel oranges in the grocery store? If so, yes please!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Wait a minute.. how long do they last? Do you refrigerate them? And are they really that much better than the Florida oranges we get up here in the store?

Ok, now you've got me looking. Sunharvest sells by the pound ($20 for 5 lbs) but the one Wacky ordered from is by the tray... how many to a pound, roughly?
I'm getting ready to order half navels and half red navels... I want an orange now!

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Do you get good Florida navel oranges in the grocery store? If so, yes please!

They're okay.
I think they export the good stuff to you guys up north.

We actually have alot of California citrus here in the stores. Go figure.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Best Florida oranges I ever had were the 5 I picked off the trees in Vero Beach's Dodgertown while there for a finance conference many years ago. They looked awful compared to the bag I bought, but they were a lot better tasting.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

They're okay.
I think they export the good stuff to you guys up north.

That's been my experience in Florida. I expected to find great produce--great citrus, anyway--in grocery stores, but the quality is nowhere near what we see in ordinary good chain stores outside Manhattan. And the prices are the same! I do think they export the top-quality produce to major markets.