The Seville Orange: Growing it and using it

The Fabulous Seville Orange 

The Seville Orange is often referred to as the Sour or Bitter Orange named after its bitter/sour taste. It is said to  originate in Northern India though like all oranges it probably was originally from China. It is quite commonly seen as a street tree in southern Spain especially (obviously) in Seville the capital of the southern Spanish province of Andalusia. It is also common as a street tree in Morocco and I have often noted that is is the tall orange tree most often grown in the courtyards or inner gardens of Moroccan Riads.

It is rare in Australia probably because it is seen (falsely I think) as of limited use and because it grows so large - they seem to grow twice the size of other oranges such as the navels and they are not a tree for the small garden - though as we will discuss later I have grown one in a pot for over a decade. Also the fruit seems not to travel so well so are only available for a short season, from the end of summer and into autumn. So if you want them you have to be fast off the mark to get them - that is if you can find who sells them.

It is said that the British made them famous in te west as they are the orange most commonly used for marmalade - a citrus type jam popular in the UK and here, but not so much in Europe. However, their uses are not limited to jam making they can be substituted for lemons in marinades and I have noticed them used as a marinade and a sauce for fish, in both Spain and in Morocco. The dried rind can be used in stews and hotpots and in Moroccan Tagines. I understand also the juice is great for cocktails. They are in general more bitter than lemons and limes but if you get them fresh and well ripened from the tree that are not so bitter, I eat them like an ordinary orange sometimes straight from the tree I like the sour taste, but leave out the pith that's sour.

Also they make a good combo with sweet navel orange juice for an 'adult' orange juice. They are also the orange traditionally used in France (and in Spain less frequently) for making the sour orange sauce with roast duck dish (called duck a l'orange - why isn't it canard a l'orange?). I think it is a travesty to use sweet oranges for the dish as it loses that bitter flavour that goes so well with rich meat dishes such as duck.

First up lets talk a little about their cultivation for home gardens in pots

Growing the Seville Orange in Pots

If planted in the ground Seville oranges will grow very large much larger than most other citrus. In days past in Australia you could see them growing sometimes with 'bush lemon' trees in chook pens. Like lemons they do not seem to mind heavy doses of fresh poultry manure. But they are quite a beautiful tree in their own right (the most beautiful of the citruses in my view) and when in blossom have a very potent scent especially at night. It is much stronger I think than that of other orange varieties. However, they are really too large for the average back yard so pots are the way to go. 

The first task is to order your Seville Orange from your local nursery - they are available but not that popular but it should be no problem for them to order one in. It is unlikely you will find one in any nursery just off the shelf so to speak. 

The next task is to buy your pot - it can be either ceramic, cement or plastic. In my view they are a good looking tree so go for ceramic but both ceramic and cement pots  need to be watered more often as they dry out much faster than plastic. If you don't want to water continuously in summer especially, plastic is fine and there are some quite attractive plastic pots around nowadays. Also if you look you can find pots in metal, fiberglass and stone. All are OK as long as you remember that all citrus like water and pots dry out fast whatever they are made of - and remember also rain does not saturate pots they still may need watering even after a heavy downpour.  My potted Seville is shown on the left, it is a very attractive blue glazed pot 66 cm (about 26 inches) inner diameter and 58 cm (23 inches) high and stands over 2 metres (6.6 feet). It has been in that pot since I bought it over 15 years ago considerably smaller than it is now. It is now April and it has small fruit on it that will grow up to grapefruit size though some, as shown, can ripen when they are much smaller. 

Seville's don't care too much about the cold, they can take frosts but they don't like wind so place the pot where it is sheltered from strong winds. When you put a small tree in a large pot you have to watch you don't over water or they will rot. So just make sure for the first season it is watered and not over watered  it will soon grow and grow quite fast. I have re-potted mine once and did it by myself. Now I'm a little older I would ask for assistance from a strong person. It actually came out of the pot quite easily as the roots had taken up all the space and it came out as a single root ball. I actually sort of treated it like a bonsai and cut the roots all round the root ball with a serrated knife and put it back into the pot with some new potting mix. Also like a bonsai I trimmed the branches. Actually it didn't look back and continues to grow fast - it will need the treatment soon again. 

Citrus are what we refer to as heavy feeders they do well with lots of fertilizer and  water. I like to grow mine organically and  with advice from my friend Kevin use blood and bone mixed with sulfate of potash - one third to two thirds of blood an bone. Sulfate of Potash is a naturally occurring substance so its PC organically and adds potassium which blood and bone lacks.Occasionally, I use Epsom salts for magnesium if the leaves go a little yellow and also some trace elements they seem to need that also very occasionally maybe only once per year.

I get more oranges than I can use even for marmalade but they never go to waste a number of friends eagerly take the left overs.


Soon I am going to post up some recipes that use Seville oranges but any contributions and advice are welcome.  So good growing