Before Orange Was a Color

The fruit came first.

In English, orange named the fruit before it named the color. The word for the fruit entered the language in the 1300s. Its use as a color name was not recorded until the 1500s.

Before that, Old English used geoluhread, meaning “yellow-red.” People could see the color. They simply had another way to describe it.

Then the fruit gave the color a new name.

There is something pleasing about that order. Before orange described paint, fabric or crayons, it named something with a peel - something you could hold, cut open and taste.

Now we call a sunset orange without thinking of a tree. We choose an orange shirt without imagining the fruit. The color’s name has become so familiar that its origin is easy to forget.

Our Orange Taco brings the attention back to the ingredient.

Sweet orange leads. A bright pickle cuts through the richness. Orange zest leaves a lasting impression.

We cut the zest fresh each morning because it contributes to the flavor, not just the appearance. It is not decoration. You would miss it if it were gone.

That is how we think about cooking from scratch: every ingredient should earn its place.

Here, orange brings sweetness and a bright finish.

Before it was a color, it was something worth tasting. It still is.

Taste where the word came from

Order the Orange Taco online and take 10% off your first order. Give the first bite your attention.

Source

1. The fruit-before-color chronology and the Old English term meaning “yellow-red.” Grammarphobia, Which ‘Orange’ Came First?.