Valencia is the best orange for juicing: its juice is deep orange, high in sugar and keeps. Hamlin and Pineapple, Florida's other juice oranges, come next. Navels give plenty of juice, and in UC Riverside's samples Lane Late navels yielded about as much by weight as Valencias did, but that juice turns bitter as it stands and won't freeze well.
| Orange | In the glass | Season | Seeds | Best use for juice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia | Deep orange, high in sugar; 42–51% juice by weight in 2007–08 samples | March–July | Few (0–6) | Pitchers, freezing |
| Hamlin | Juicy, sweet, low in acid | Very early | Very few or none | Early-season juice; rarely sold in California |
| Pineapple | Tender, juicy, rich flavor | Midseason | Moderately seedy | Excellent for processing; strain the seeds |
| Navel (Washington, Lane Late) | Moderately juicy; 45–53% by weight in Lane Late samples | Nov–Jan (Washington), Feb–June (Lane Late) | None | By the glass, drunk at once |
| Cara Cara | Pink flesh, mild (acid 0.7–1.0%) | Nov–Jan | Few | By the glass, for color |
| Moro (blood orange) | Almost violet-red flesh, juicy | Dec–Feb | Few or none | By the glass, for color |
Juice figures: Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside. Descriptions: UC Riverside and the University of Arizona's low-desert variety guide. Seasons are for Riverside.
What makes the Valencia the juice orange
Its juice holds its flavor in the fridge and the freezer. According to UC's backyard-citrus page, Valencia juice, along with lemon and lime juice, can be frozen for up to 4 months; navels get no such mention.
Timing changes the glass. The Valencia ripens late, from March at Riverside, and ripe Valencias usually stay on the tree all summer, according to the University of California. In UC Riverside's 2007 samples, its acid fell from about 1.5% in late March to about 1.0–1.1% in mid-July, while the sugar-to-acid ratio climbed from roughly 7–8 to 12. A July Valencia makes a softer, sweeter juice than a March one. That softening is why we wait until summer to pick the Valencias for our Valencia Orange Marmalade.
Processors vote the same way. In Florida's 2025–26 season, 7.37 million of the state's 8.18 million boxes of Valencias went to processing, according to USDA's Citrus Fruits 2025 Summary, released in August 2026. California grows most of its Valencias for the fresh market: 5.7 million of 8.5 million boxes that season.
Going by UC Riverside's 2007 figures, a Valencia averaged roughly 170 to 260 grams and gave about half its weight as juice. On that arithmetic, a cup (240 ml) of juice takes two to three oranges.
Why doesn't navel orange juice keep?
The culprit is limonin. Navel juice can't be stored, the Arizona guide warns, because navels contain this compound and it gives the juice a bitter taste. Freezing develops limonin, and navels hold higher levels than other oranges, which rules them out for frozen juice, according to the University of California's guide to oranges. A navel frozen on the tree can turn bitter before it's even picked.
The old verdict is in UC Riverside's Washington navel entry, which carries a line from The Citrus Industry (1967): the navel ships and stores well enough but "processes poorly." A navel is still a fine orange to squeeze into a glass and drink on the spot, and a good one for cooking; ours go into Navel Orange Marmalade.
Hamlin and Pineapple, the Florida juice oranges
Both are major Florida varieties, and neither is common in a California store. The Hamlin started as a chance seedling near Glenwood, Florida, in an orchard planted in 1879. It's juicy, sweet and lacking in acid, one of the earliest oranges to ripen and possibly the world's main very early sweet orange, by UC Riverside's description. Hamlin budwood isn't sold commercially in California.
The Pineapple got its name from its smell. It was first propagated at Citra, Florida, about 1873 under the name Hickory, and renamed some ten years later for its delicate fragrance. It's a midseason orange with tender, juicy, rich-flavored flesh that UC Riverside rates excellent for processing. The catch is seeds, a moderate number of them, so strain the juice.
Juicing blood oranges and Cara Cara navels
Both make striking juice, for different reasons. The Moro, already the most common blood orange in American markets when The Citrus Industry was published in 1967, owes its almost violet-red flesh to anthocyanin, the pigment in purple grapes. The Cara Cara is a pink-fleshed navel colored by lycopene. Its acid ran at only 0.7–1.0% in UC Riverside's samples, so the juice tastes mild. Being a navel, it's one to drink fresh.
The rest of California's citrus, from blood oranges to Pixie mandarins, is in our look at specialty citrus in California, and the jars made from them are in the citrus collection.
How to squeeze and freeze orange juice
Wash the fruit first. Fresh, unpasteurized orange juice has been linked to Salmonella outbreaks, UC ANR notes, and bacteria on the rind can reach the flesh when you cut or squeeze it.
- Wet each orange, rub the skin under running water, then pat it dry with a paper towel.
- Cut the oranges in half on a clean board.
- Squeeze with a juicer that doesn't press oil out of the rind, as both UC ANR and the National Center for Home Food Preservation advise.
- Refrigerate any juice you won't drink right away.
- To freeze Valencia juice, pour it straight into glass jars, which the NCHFP recommends to avoid off-flavors, and leave the 1½ inches of headspace UC ANR calls for.
Use frozen Valencia juice within the 4 months UC gives it, and squeeze navels only for the glass you're about to drink.
Photo by Rae Wallis on Unsplash.
