Zigui summer oranges come from Yichang, Hubei. Generally, in which month do they ripen and go on the market?
Zigui summer orange is a thin-skinned, juicy orange variety. The fruit generally stays on the tree for a relatively long time, with ripe fruit, orange blossoms, and young fruit hanging on the same tree, creating the curious spectacle of “flowers and fruit on the same branch, two generations on the same tree”. The summer orange is a seasonal fruit for off-season citrus sales and for regulating the fruit market. It is deeply favored by consumers at home and abroad and has become a “golden fruit” for local migrants to increase their income and become rich. Where is the Zigui summer orange produced? When does it generally ripen and go on the market? What are the benefits of regularly eating oranges?
1. Where is the Zigui summer orange produced?
The Zigui summer orange is produced in Yichang City, Hubei Province. The Zigui summer orange was introduced from Sichuan in the 1970s, and after local cultivation and management, this strain was found to be one with relatively good economic returns from cultivation.
2. When does the Zigui summer orange generally ripen?
The Zigui summer orange generally ripens in early summer, that is, around May, and can remain on the tree for as long as 16 months. The existence of the Zigui summer orange changed the situation in China where oranges were hard to find among summer fruits. With its good quality and its appearance during the fruit off-season, it has become the “queen” among summer oranges, and is thus renowned throughout the country.
3. What are the benefits of regularly eating oranges?
1. Aids digestion and removes greasiness
It has the effects of promoting fluid production, quenching thirst, stimulating the appetite, and descending qi. For healthy people, eating oranges or drinking orange juice after a meal helps relieve greasiness, dissolve accumulated food, quench thirst, and sober one up.
2. Cleanses the intestines
It promotes intestinal peristalsis, helps cleanse the intestines and relieve constipation, and removes harmful substances from the body.
3. Prevents “diseases of affluence”
It increases the body's resistance, increases the elasticity of capillaries, and lowers blood cholesterol. Regular consumption of oranges is beneficial for people with hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, and arteriosclerosis. Drinking 3 glasses of orange juice a day can increase the body's high-density lipoprotein (HDL) content, thereby reducing the likelihood of heart disease.
4. Cancer prevention
Oranges can remove free radicals harmful to health in the body and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. A medium-sized orange can provide the vitamin C a person needs for a day and improve the body's ability to resist bacterial invasion. Oranges can remove free radicals harmful to health in the body and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. Among all fruits, citrus fruits contain the highest levels of antioxidant substances, including more than 60 kinds of flavonoids and 17 kinds of carotenoids. Flavonoids have anti-inflammatory effects, strengthen blood vessels, and inhibit coagulation. Carotenoids have strong antioxidant effects. These components give oranges an inhibitory effect on the occurrence of multiple types of cancer.
5. Treats coughs and colds
Its effect of relieving cough and reducing phlegm surpasses that of dried tangerine peel, and it is a good medicine for treating colds, coughs, poor appetite, and chest and abdominal distension and pain.
6. Relieves stress in women
The scent emitted by oranges helps relieve people's psychological stress, but it only helps women overcome tension, while its effect on men is not significant.
7. Less likely to get gallstones
The pectin contained in orange peel can also promote the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract, allowing cholesterol to be excreted in the feces more quickly, thereby reducing cholesterol absorption. For people with gallstones, in addition to eating oranges, drinking water soaked with orange peel can also have a fairly good therapeutic effect.