1. Orange: the fruit

The earliest reference to oranges is found in one of the five canonical books attributed to Confucius, the Book of Histories, a total of five volumes dated between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C. Here, we learn that at that time, the emperor received oranges and grapefruit as offerings, mainly from the fertile province of Houai, in south-eastern China. This custom continued under the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.).

The orange undoubtedly originated in South-East Asia: traces of it can be found in China as far back as 2200 BC, then among the Sumerians and in ancient Egypt. In North Africa, it had been cultivated since the 2nd or 3rd century, well before being introduced to southern Europe by the Arabs around the year 1000. But it wasn't until the 15th century that the "sweet" orange as we know...