The heart of the Florida orange juice industry is right here in central Florida. In fact, our subdivision was built on the site of a former orange grove. Although the industry is in decline due to competition from South America, a major brand of orange juice, Florida's Natural, is produced in the town of Lake Wales, about 20 min. away from where we live. Dad & I took a ride over to check it out.
Although we were hoping for a plant tour, the Visitor Center (built in the Florida Cracker style) t houses a museum that traces the history of the industry and the company. We learned that oranges are not native to Florida but were brought here by the Spaniards. Florida's Natural is a Growers Cooperative, a conglomerate of the local packing houses. The museum displayed some of the old labels to the left in this exhibit.
Of course, there is the requisite gift shop with all kinds of orange products for sale.
Dad selected a bag of orange-flavored popcorn, I chose chocolate-covered orange coconut bars, and I picked up some orange butter cookies for Ed. Didn't feel compelled to get a T-shirt!
The juice bar was refreshing and delicious. I tried a cranberry/ruby red grapefruit juice with no hint of bitterness. We bought organic orange-mango and orange-peach juices to take home.
Afterwards, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for doughnuts and bagels to take home. Along with the juice, we're all set for breakfasts for awhile!
1 comment:
Hi Camille, Thanks for stopping by and becoming one of my followers... Next time you visit please sign my guestbook too... We are practically neighbors... We full time and right now stay in Largo, Florida. We lived in Palm Harbor for many years but sold our house to our daughter and went full time 5 years ago. I am adding you to mu favorites so I can read about your adventures and I hope we can become good blogland friends... Who knows maybe we will run into each other someday on the road... Have a beautiful day. Love your blog
HUGS,
Donna
Post a Comment