Why can't you eat them straight from the tree? Do they need to mellow a bit before eating or just a variety that isn't particularly good?

I have some sort of apple tree on my property like that -- sets abundant fruit but tastes terrible. Even the horses wouldn't eat them LOL!

Sorry, no recipes. We have to buy oranges up here so pretty much just for fresh eating.

I don't quite get it either. You mean they're just super orangey? That normal for fresh off the tree. I won't drink fresh squeezd because of that ,but they're greaet in stuff.. You can make sweets from cake to ice cream. European style orange chicken to Chinese take-out style and everything in between. You can line a casserole dish in slices , including up the sides, and make a regular casserole, a strata, a sweet lasagna, bread pudding, breakfast casserole or cake. If it's too intense for ice pops, you can mix with vanilla to make half orangey, or make sherbet, or dreamsicles with only a coating of orange. Make orange juice ice cubes to float in punch or sangria, or any "tropical" mixed drink.

Worse comes to worst, you can take a bag of 'em to a shelter or food bank that accepts fresh foods, or a church in a food desert, or some similar place where they'll be apreciated.

They can be too intense. I had one at lunch and my mouth still taste like an orange.

Pillog - thanks for the tips.!

I used several oranges to make Aki's Melomakarona for my sister's birthday, which was today.

I cut this recipe in half, and it made three dozen cookies - I sent one dozen to my sister and kept the rest.

If you like, I will post the recipe, with my revisions. It required about four or five oranges to get half a cup of juice, and I only zested one of them.

Lars- we have a Greek festivale and I always get those cookies. I love them. You are such a good brother.

Could you use them for a Cuban style pork brine?

Intense oranges like that are perfect for marinades, but "Cuban" usually uses sour orange juice from the variety of oranges called "sour orange".

Yeah, by ”style” I meant similar. Regardless, I’m thinking tart and sour are closely related, and adding sweet to the equation wouldn’t offend the pork.

I'm confused about 'intense' - is that sour or not?

I like to use citrus juices when roasting chicken. Orange goes nicely with most spice blends - I like it with curry powder and smoked salt.

caflowerluver, do you know the variety? We have a Navel orange tree, and the oranges are good straight from the tree being pretty sweet. Could your tree be a Valencia?

I'm not speaking for Caflowerluver, but in my experience the super intense ones aren't sour, and not particularly over-sweet. One can be cured with sugar, the other with a little dilution. I guess less sour is part of it, though since I can't parse out how much of that is sour flavor vs. less intensity going with the less sugary, They have an extreme orangeness that some candies have. "Intense" is the right word. I have a friend who calls it "slap your momma." I'm fine eating them but it's too much of a muchness for juice. There's a local brand of juice which has that same intensity, so it probably is the variety of orange, plus tree ripenened, or whatever. The big brands balance the flavor of the juice.

If the oranges were sour, you could use them in Cochinita Pibil - one of my favorite Mexican dishes, from the Yucatan. If they are not sour, you can mix them with lime juice or grapefruit juice.

I am such a fan of Clementine Cake and wonder how they might work for that? https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/clementine-cake-recipe-2203644

Try peeling them and poaching them whole in a syrup made with water, sugar and a healthy dollop of cognac. Chill in the syrup and serve sliced with ice cream.

Depends on which variety you're growing. Here in Oz, my Washington Navels are best picked in mid-winter. They may appear to be ripe on the tree before then, but are usually sour until the cold weather hits them.

I'd try sampling a couple of fruit at weekly intervals until they achieve the sweetness you want. They won't fall off the tree until they're over-ripe, by which time they're not much good for anything!

I believe it is a Velencia. Not too sour or sweet, just a real strong orange flavor. Thanks for recipes.

They are starting to fall from the tree so thought I should pick them. Maybe it was the weather this summer, cold and foggy. Down in the 50's, barely made it to 60 deg, all summer long. Not normal for Central Coast California.

Pillog - It is "slap your momma" intense. Not sour or sweet. (Love that description.)

I had a Valencia orange tree in Venice, and it made oranges pretty much all year. They were great for just eating, but they did have seeds. I would always pack some to take with me whenever I on hikes.

I had a a blood orange tree in Westchester, and that made sweeter oranges, but those trees really like for it to get hotter than it does near the beach where I lived in Westchester, although I was even closer to the beach in Venice.