To find out how best to store oranges we ran a series of tests and spoke with a USDA scientist. One method was better than others.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 USDA-ARS | 2023-07-20 14:56:53 |  257 Views |
Prevent fruit from giving you the blues
For maximum flavor and juiciness oranges should be eaten within a few days of purchase. But if you must store them refrigerating citrus is the best way to prevent moisture loss and preserve texture and flavor.
When I was a kid there was always a bag of navel oranges in our refrigerator. My parents never stored their oranges any other way and because our family went through the fruit so quickly the citrus never went bad. It never got moldy it never shriveled and it never got eaten. Simply put my family had no reason to think about the “best way” to store them. But as a citrus lover and an editor at a food magazine known for his boundless curiosity I wanted to know: What’s the best way to keep oranges fresh for as long as possible?
To find out I conducted a series of tests and spoke with a plant physiologist and citrus expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more insight. Despite a variety of common storage methods throughout an orange’s supply chain—cold storage in warehouses and room-temperature transportation in many grocery stores—there is one home storage method that is far superior to others in preserving the best flavor and texture of oranges.
