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On an episode of Qi there was a 'fact' that claimed oranges aren't actually orange they are green and they lose their green colour in transport and become orange.

Now I was indeed skeptical about this, surely they are just green when they are unripe, like a lot of fruits and I'm pretty sure I have seen pictures of orange trees with orange oranges on them.

Any thoughts?

Sklivvz
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EagerMike
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    Please provide a sample of the claim. This sounds like a simple misunderstanding. – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 16:46
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    The claim is here and it's quite different: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/8345477/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-orange.html – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 16:49
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    Here's an example of the claim [on the QI forums](http://old.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=24578&start=0&sid=8db906776493daf92ce3c02fe9916f0e). And a similar claim (that provides an answer) [on io9](http://io9.com/everything-you-know-is-wrong-oranges-aren-t-orange-1097312640). – Ladadadada Jan 13 '14 at 16:50
  • In practice, they don't claim this at all, they claim that it depends on the temperature (so not dissimilar from what the OP thinks are the facts). – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 16:50
  • Right, in any case this was not claimed on QI as far as I can tell, so the question needs fixing. – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 16:54
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    @Sklivvz look in general ignorance section http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/qi/episodes/8/3/ – EagerMike Jan 13 '14 at 16:57
  • Did you read the article I linked? It is by the QI authors and disagrees that they said what is claimed above. Now, I don't doubt that the claim might be reasonable, but it's not by QI. Furthermore, since googling returns simply the opposite, I'd like to see a real claim. All that I can find claim they are colored with ethylene. Is this what the OP is doubtful about? – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 17:05
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    I've never said anything like that. The claim was about changing colors in transport, now it's about supermarket coloring them. In the meanwhile the edit made the only answer off topic. – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 17:11
  • I've rolled back to the original claim. The OP can ask a different question, instead of changing this once it's already answered. – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 17:12
  • let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/12467/discussion-between-sklivvz-and-articuno) – Sklivvz Jan 13 '14 at 17:14
  • https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=orange%20tree&tbs=imgo:1 – terdon Feb 20 '14 at 17:17

1 Answers1

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No, that's wrong.

Oranges are/can be orange in their trees, as they get mature.

Sources: http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/hb66/100orange.pdf

Peel color at maturity ranges from light to deep orange but may remain green under warm conditions

One research analysis how the water ammount can change the fruit color: http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-2628.pdf

"Our research suggests that late-season water stress may produce a fruit with less green and more orange color earlier in the season when even a few days difference in harvest timing can mean a large price differential in fruit value."

Sklivvz
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woliveirajr
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