Is juice as good as the fruit?

No. Juicing removes the fibre and concentrates the sugar. Fresh juice still carries vitamin C, but the whole fruit is the better daily habit.

Is orange-blossom water the same thing?

No. Bahar narenj is distilled from the blossom of the bitter orange tree and is used for calm and sleep — a different remedy from the fruit.

Chapter 1 of 11

Orange

If You Read Nothing Else

One medium orange covers a day's vitamin C, with fibre the juice leaves behind.

Hesperidin, the flavonoid (a family of protective plant compounds) concentrated in the pith and peel, is the compound most studied for blood vessels.

Orange blossom (bahar narenj) is a separate remedy from the fruit — calming, distilled, and used for sleep.

Sweet oranges arrive in Iranian and Mediterranean kitchens through the winter — eaten in slices, juiced fresh, or blossom-distilled into bahar narenj for nerves and sleep. Beyond vitamin C they deliver flavonoids (a family of protective plant compounds) like hesperidin that support blood vessels, and the northern groves of Mazandaran and Fars supply the country from November to March.

Known to botanists as Citrus sinensis.