While we buy local when we can, the luxury of citrus from exotic places like Florida and California is not one we take for granted. Right now we are deeply enjoying a bag of Moro blood oranges - their lush sweetness and slight bitter aftertaste satisfies and refreshes. More photos of these late winter beauties below...
Moro oranges have a thick, soft peel that comes away easily. They have dark, almost purple flesh, with a juicy sweetness and softness that carries less acid than conventional oranges.
They're in season in Florida and California from January through July, but they start to taper off in the markets around the end of March, we've found.
These are a highlight for our fruit bowl, even over those clementines we had last week...
We have blogged about our love of blood oranges before; check out Wild for Blood Oranges and this recent San Francisco market report.
We adore blood oranges in salads. See some recipes below - but especially this recipe for blood orange jelly smiles...
Blood Oranges and More
• Recipe: Fennel, Orange, and Shallot Salad
• Virtual CSA Box: Fennel
• Recipe: Luigi's Grandmother's Blood Orange Salad
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
My favorites. Nom nom nom!!
Amazingly, in Phoenix, Moro blood oranges are cheaper than any other oranges in grocery stores. I made some blood orange curd to eat with some Hawaiian bread (an Easter treat in my family), and it was awesome!
I LOVE blood oranges! They're already scarce around here and the cheapest I found were 93 cents each, but they're to die for with manchego cheese and even better to make sangria with.
I just made a beet salad with baby spinach, beets (steamed, peeled and cut into wedges), blood orange slices, and goat cheese. The dressing was the rest of the juice left over from cutting the blood orange from the white pith, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was delicious!! (Although the dressing was probably the weakest link-- any suggestions are welcome)
Oh yum, I recently made a blood orange sorbet with candied peels mixed in and it was pretty tasty. Blood oranges manchego sounds delicious.
They make a great addition to marmalades with other citrus fruits. I especially love the color they produce and often pair them with Bergamont sour oranges for a fragrant, colorful marmalade. http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q213/justafoodie/Preserves/BergamontBloodOrange/DSC02093.jpg