The Costco Fruit Reddit Says You Should Skip

Let's be honest, it probably takes a lot to rile up a Costco shopper. So we were surprised to learn that it's oranges of all things that's done just that. A Reddit thread about one member's ongoing bad experiences buying citrus fruits at Costco turned from an innocent question into a bit of a heated fruit forum, complete with theories, regional blame, and as well as a few Costco apologists. The original post showed a bag of oranges so dry they almost looked fossilized. "Should I avoid orange varieties at Costco altogether?" the original poster asked with many commenters chiming in to say, essentially, yeah... maybe you should. 

Many of the commenters claimed they have good luck with their local Costcos' fruit options, but the mood of the thread overall was far from juicy — one user complained that half their bag of Cara Cara oranges went moldy within three days. A few people made the point that the citrus season is winter and spring, and so buying anything in other months is more than likely imported a long time prior to when it actually arrives on our shelves. The warehouse retailer's image still suffers from the major frozen fruit recall that still haunts it, so regardless of whether this is bad luck or bad logistics, the orange debate isn't a good look.

This frustration with bad oranges is a consistent theme across other Reddit threads. Some commenters blame the very ethos on which Costco runs — its bulk model — claiming that because they buy so much, old stock is often left out too long. And one person even claimed to be a produce worker at Costco themselves, stating on another Reddit post that "low staffing makes it almost impossible to keep up with rotation," which basically is someone on the inside admitting that those "fresh" oranges you're picking up could actually have been sitting out for weeks. So if you're shopping for oranges, remember Carla Hall's best tip for picking out the freshest oranges: Look for fruit that feels heavy, as that usually means it's nice and juicy on the inside, not shriveled and dry.

Other theories considered that temperature swings may be a quiet culprit as when fruit moves from cold storage to a warm display, condensation builds up and speeds up rot. And then, there were the helpful commenters, the people who offered simple ways to stretch a fruit's life span such as removing it from plastic bags when you get it home, giving it a diluted vinegar wash, and then refrigerating it right away. Knowing where to keep oranges so they stay fresher longer can help, too. The rest might come down to simply resisting the urge to buy 10 pounds of anything perishable, that is unless you plan on making a lot of fresh orange juice shortly after getting home from the store.