>Does anyone know if blood oranges are a genetically altered orange? I am
>suspicious when I don't find seeds?

Hmmm. Well, every new cultivar of plant or animal is genetically
altered--otherwize it wouldn't be any different from the other cultivars.
If you mean whether it came as a result of recombinant DNA tinkering in a
lab the answer is no. The blood orange varieties are older than recombinant
DNA technology.

Seedlessness is no sign of recombinant DNA tinkering, yet. Bananas today
are essentially seedless, as are pineapples, some citrus, some grapes, etc.
They were mutations which could be propagated by other means (slips,
grafts, etc) and exist because humans can propagate seedless varieties. In
the case of bananas, they were probably seedless many thousands of years
ago--the result of human selection, not "natural selection".

As you have probably found, Ellie, blood oranges have a unique flavor in
the citrus world. Many varieties have seeds; a few are relatively seedless.
Enjoy.

Cheers,
Kirt

PS I'm still looking for a source of the $120 refractometer (incl temp
compensation) mentioned by Rex. Found plenty but always over $200. Anybody
have a source they might share?