Why can I buy Mandarin oranges canned but never see them fresh?
You do – they’re called “tangerines” when they’re fresh.
In Africa, we were sold “Mandrins” fresh on the roadside. I’m no expert, but they looked exactly like what I buy as tangerines in the US.
Where are the fresh raisins?
Where are the fresh prunes?
Droll. Very Droll.
In Western Canada around Christmas time, fresh mandarins are sold by the box. I have been unsuccessful finding them here. I was not aware that mandarins and tangerines are the same.
Try also the fruit known as “Clementines,” which are sold by the box around Christmas. Basically the same fruit – I don’t know why they started selling them as Clementines within the last decade or so.
Clementines are not tangerines, they are a (usually) seed free hybrid of an orange and a tangerine. Tangerines, ime, have loads of seeds.
- Shibb, who grew up in Florida surrounded by citrus groves, with tangerines and grapefruits growing in the yard.
No, clementines are more like small oranges than tangerines. They don’t section easily, like tangerines.
Well, I guess their being two different fruits would explain the different names. :smack:
Mandarin oranges are not a kind of orange at all. They are Tangerines (Citrus reticulata). The name comes from Tangier, Morocco. There is no botanical difference between the two, but in the supermarket this fruit is sometimes called a Mandarin Orange if it is an orange color. If the skin is a reddish orange, sometimes it is called a Tangerine. Again, there is no difference between the two. Some Tangerines varieties are more seedy than others.
Clementines are a variety of Tangerine. Most canned mandarins are of the satsuma variety. There are a couple of hundred varieties.
I grow several varieties in my backyard here in southern CA.
Well, come to Canada around Christmas time–“Mandarin oranges” are traditional Christmas treat. I always got one in my Christmas stocking (tucked into the stocking’s toe, just like my mother remembered from her childhood), and we would have a box in the house. The fruits are festively individually wrapped in green paper. They only used to be available in December, but now they arrive in the stores much earlier and stay on much later.
I have recently noticed that I can buy what look like Mandarin oranges to me now, and they’ve been labeled clementines or tangerines, I think. I noticed them, and bought some, because they reminded me of Mandarin oranges. They seemed, upon eating, very similar to mandarin oranges.
I’m not making sense tonight, because I’m tired.
Ditto. To me, tangerines and mandarin oranges are different fruits–mandarins peel and section really easier and are quite sweet. Tangerines, I thought, were less sweet?
Not to derail, but tangelos, another favourite citrus fruit… They have changed over the years, eh? They used to be on the tart side, and very, very flavourful–enough to make the salivary glands nearest my ears squirt when I first taste one! Now, they seem to be sweeter and blander. Not the fruit I remember. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, or what’s being grown is getting its flavour ‘dumbed down’ to broaden its appeal.
Well, I can echo Savannahs sentiments as we always got a Mandarin in the toe of our stockings as well.
Recently we’ve been getting them from Costco here in southern Ontario. They are under the name Satsuma. According to the signage the Satsuma is the same friut as the Mandarin, the difference being the Mandarin is asian (Chinese) in origin, while the Satsuma is grown in South America (Argentina maybe, I don’t recall offhand).
I also distinguish Mandarin (or these new-to-me Satsuma) as different from Tangerines or Clementine by the skin. The Mandarin has a less shiny skin while Tangerines or Clementines have a very shiny skin. I claim no expertise, so take it as you will.
Satsuma is a Japanese word. Today Satsuma tangerines are grown in South America and many places in the world, but their origin is in Japan and China.
Think of a tangerine as you would an apple. You don’t call the fruit a “McIntosh”, “Granny Smith” , “Braeburn” or “Golden Delicious”. You call it an apple even though these varieties have quite different characteristics.
Some Tangerines are larger, easier to peel, have different colors, etc., etc. than others, BUT they are ALL Tangerines.