Vaniglia Sanguigno Juice is Astonishingly Delicious Blended with Limequat Juice
The Vaniglia Sanguigno acidless sweet orange is the most unusual-tasting citrus variety that I have ever tried. The lack of acid gives it a taste quite unlike the oranges that most Americans are familiar with. My father-in-law rated it his favorite of many varieties in a citrus taste test. Because of this I grafted and planted a Vaniglia Sanguigno tree in my yard. I found it more of a curiosity and did not particularly like it, however. For me, the first bite has an unusual but pleasant flavor; after that it falls flat. The lack of acid makes the fruit insipid.
My father-in-law lives in Australia and has yet to make another visit to California during citrus season. Until recently I did not know what to do with my Vaniglia Sanguignos other than to give them away and let others try this unusual fruit. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting citrus expert Tom Delfino, the executive director of the California Citrus Nursery Society. Tom had a solution for me.
Tom suggested that I juice my Vaniglia Sanguignos and blend the juice with a more acidic citrus juice. Tom's suggested recipe is to blend with the juice of the Marrakech Limonette. My Marrakech Limonette tree is now on order. Since I had limequats ready to harvest I decided to try Tom's recipe, but with the substitution of limequats.
The Vaniglia Sanguignos were quite juicy and the juice had a great color, but the unaltered juice was just as insipid as the fruit.
My tasters and I experimented with different ratios of Vaniglia Sanguigno juice to limequat juice to achieve our preferred blend. We settled upon a ratio of two Vaniglia Sanguignos to five limequats.
All tasters agreed that the addition of limequat juice made the Vaniglia Sanguigno juice more delicious than any store-bought juice.
Upon further reading I learned from Citrus Varieties of the World that the juice of acidless oranges has found a niche in the European freshly squeezed orange juice market. Acidless juice is often blended with high-acid Valencia juice to produce a better tasting blend.
This all leads me to conclude that Vaniglia Sanguigno is a great citrus variety for juice lovers to grow at home. Blending Vaniglia Sanguigno juice with other orange juice would make it possible to enjoy orange juice earlier in the season when juicing oranges are still too acidic. Vaniglia Sanguigno would also be great in cooler climates that have later ripening fruit. Juice lovers may also enjoy blending Vaniglia Sanguigno juice with other acidic juices such as the juice of the Marrakech Limonette.
