Laraha
Encyclopedia
Laraha refers to a citrus
tree that grows on the island of Curaçao
, and the fruit
s of this tree. A relative of the orange
, the fruit of the Laraha is even more bitter than their other citrus cousins and generally considered inedible.
trees transplanted on Curaçao from Spain
in 1527 did not take the arid climate and soil of the Southern Caribbean
island. As the trees were then abandoned, the fruit evolved
from a bright orange color and sweet taste into a green and inedible bitter produce. The dried peels of the Laraha, however, were discovered to be quite pleasantly fragranced, and experimentation with the extracts of these peels led to the creation of Curaçao liqueur
.
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
tree that grows on the island of Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, and the fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s of this tree. A relative of the orange
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
, the fruit of the Laraha is even more bitter than their other citrus cousins and generally considered inedible.
History and use
Valencia orangeValencia orange
The Valencia Orange is a sweet orange first hybridized by California pioneer agronomist and land developer William Wolfskill, on his farm in Santa Ana in southern California in the United States. -History:...
trees transplanted on Curaçao from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1527 did not take the arid climate and soil of the Southern Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island. As the trees were then abandoned, the fruit evolved
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
from a bright orange color and sweet taste into a green and inedible bitter produce. The dried peels of the Laraha, however, were discovered to be quite pleasantly fragranced, and experimentation with the extracts of these peels led to the creation of Curaçao liqueur
Curaçao liqueur
Curaçao is a liqueur flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit, grown on the island of Curaçao. A non-native plant similar to an orange, the laraha developed from the sweet Valencia orange transplanted by Spanish explorers. The nutrient-poor soil and arid climate of Curaçao proved...
.