“About as scarce as North Arlene oranges,” goes a commonplace saying in the Middle Kingdoms. And when it comes up in conversation, the casual listener needs to understand that sarcasm’s very much in play—as in North Arlen, by far the warmest of the Four Realms, oranges are about as much in short supply as they are in Southern California. Nor, it should be added, are they all that hard to find elsewhere.

This is because oranges are probably the single fruit on the Kingdoms’ continent with the broadest range… a condition achieved without all that much help from humans. The reasons for this remain indeterminate. But one likely culprit is the tendency of citrus varieties, on that alternate Earth as on ours, to readily hybridize with very different family members—thereby spreading around traits that either benefit the plants themselves, or the humans who cultivate them: sometimes both.

As a general rule, the larger-fruited citrus breeds on the Kingdoms’ continent (citron, sourthorn, pomelo, various others) lean toward the bitter and sour end of the flavor spectrum. Smaller citrus fruits there, however, generally run sweeter, and as a result have been somewhat more enthusiastically spread and cultivated both by orcharders and in home gardens for casual eating and cooking uses. In terms of flavor, texture, and general physical characteristics, a visitor from our Earth would immediately recognize members of this group as oranges. But color words tend not to be used for them in the Kingdoms, because their rinds are just as likely to be yellow-green or green. Right across the Realms’ language groups, the proper name for these fruits comes from one or another compound of words for “small” and “sweet”: Darthene ndelkaith, Steldene telnethrak, Arlene and North Arlene khuintell, Ladhain elteft. 

Most popular of these not-always-oranges is a variety referred to as the “hen’s-egg sweetfruit” (for its size) or “jewel orange”. This fruit corresponds very closely to our Mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata, and is similarly sweet, thin-skinned and easy to peel. Considering the jewel orange’s wide range across the breadth of the Kingdoms—practically from Lamaith in far western Arlen and the cooler southern regions near Egen, to the furthest east along the drier Brightwood coasts abutting the great Waste—an our-world botanist might be tempted to think that the Kingdoms-native variety had hybridized with local versions of the Owari satsuma (Citrus unshiu Marcovitch) or the Trovita orange (Citrus x sinensis), or possibly both. This would account for the jewel orange’s unusual cold tolerance and ability to thrive in drought-adjacent conditions.

In any case, the fruit, when not fresh, turns up all over the place in numerous confections and tracklements, and is routinely preserved in honey or sugar syrups—especially in the subtropical north where sugar cane is widely grown or harvested. Because oranges’ cross-Kingdoms growing season is so prolonged, they’re not as aggressively preserved as some other fruits are. And when they are, the emphasis seems more on including them as an ingredient in condiments.

The approach described in this recipe is a common one, caught about halfway between what we might consider a pickle and a chutney. The oranges are sliced and cooked down to tenderness in a vinegar and sugar syrup that’s augmented with a range of spiceries according to the cook’s preference and their region’s favored options. “Sweet” spices such as cinnamon and mace are favorites; so are spices and additions with more perceived heat, such as pepper, allspice, and various chiles. The finished pickle is then bottled in boiled containers that are sealed and baked in an approximation of our world’s more basic canning techniques.

On opening, the pickled oranges are used as a condiment with meat dishes, or served alongside cheeses and preserved meats, in company with breads or savory cakes for casual nibbling. Our snack plate above attempts to get close to a typical early-evening Darthene one, meant to fill in some of the gaps left after an earlier,  more substantial daymeal. The plate features an assortment of sliced sausages (some our-earth Morliny sliced Krakovska standing in for the ubiquitous mild Darthene pork-and-beef meíntë sausage), a local sharp cheese—in this case one of the fabulous Lithuanian Dziugas cheeses, which have a natural affinity for fruit very like that of the famous middle-Darthene deithémnië “salt cheese”—and a thin-link, hot-smoked chicken and pork sausage. The orange condiment might have bread sticks dipped in it, or (as here) be sandwiched between bits of meat.

Ingredients: