If you have tangerine trees in your yard, you probably have fruit falling off the tree and are giving bags away to family and friends.
The year had all the right conditions for a bumper crop — sunny days, well-drained soil, lots of rain but not too much.
Mandarins are usually smaller and easier to peel than oranges. They are less acidic, juicier and have less sugar than oranges.
• Clementines are juicy, sweet, with excellent taste, and often seedless. They are the smallest mandarin. Clementines were discovered in Algiers in the early 20th century by a French missionary, Father Clement Rodier. You may see it at the market as “Cuties” or “Halo.”
• Dancy is dark red-orange with a smooth, thin rind. It peels easily and its flesh is deep orange.
• Encore is a delicious, sweet-tart, juicy mandarin with yellow-orange rind mottled with dark spots.
• Fremont is rich and sweet with lots of seeds. It’s a medium-sized mandarin with bright orange rind.
• Honey or Murcott is very sweet and juicy. I remember seeing road stands in Thailand in January selling these fruits.
• Satsuma mandarins are considered the sweetest of all mandarins. It is juicy, sweet and floral, with delicate flesh that melts in the mouth with no seeds.
Mandarin orange hybrids include:
• Tangelo, which is a hybrid between a mandarin and a grapefruit. Two varieties include ‘Minneola’ which is bright orange-red and has a distinct neck, with some seeds. ‘Orlando’ is a small fruit with a mild, sweet flavor and lots of seeds. ‘Sampson’ has grapefruit-like flavors.
• Tangor is a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange and its cultivars include ‘Murcott’ sweet and seeds, and marketed as “honey tangerine.” ‘Ortanique’ is sweet, juicy with a slightly pebbled rind with a distinct neck. It has some seeds.
• Ambersweet is a cross between a ‘Clementine’ and ‘Orlando’ and a sweet orange. It is juicy, seedy and pear shaped and pebbly.
• Fairchild is a cross between ‘Clementine’ and ‘Orlando’ and is juicy and sweet. Its red-orange rind is difficult to peel.
• Fallglo is a cross between a mandarin and the ‘Temple’ tangor. It is juicy, tart with lots of seeds.
• Gold nugget was developed by the University of California Riverside, and is a cross between ‘Wilking’ and Kincy, with rich flavor and is seedless.
• Lee is a cross between a ‘Clementine’ and ‘Orlando’ tangelo. It is tender, juicy, and sweet with seeds.
• Nova is a cross between ‘Clementine’ and ‘Orlando’ and is juicy and very sweet.
• Page is a cross between ‘Clementine’ and ‘Minneola’ and is small, sweet and juicy with few seeds.
• Robinson is a hybrid between ‘Clementine’ and “Orlando’ and is very sweet but with lots of seeds.
• Sunburst is a cross between ‘Robinson’ and ‘Osceola’ and is sweet with an undertone of grapefruit.
• Wekiwa is also called ‘Lavender Gem’ or pink tangelo and is a cross between a tangelo and a grapefruit. It is juicy, mild, sweet with purplish rose color.
Variety of satsuma orange:
• Shiranui mandarin is a large, lumpy fruit, also called “dekopon” which refers to the top knot of a sumo wrestler. Another name for this tangelo is Sumo citrus. It is a hybrid between a Kiyomi and ponka and was developed in Japan in 1972. This variety needs tender loving care to grow and pick so may be pricey at $3-$4 a pound. There are no seeds with a well balanced sweetness and acidity.
Sour-acid mandarin hybrids include:
• Calamondin is a cross between mandarin and a kumquat, is very small and usually lots of seeds.
• Rangpur is also called rangpur lime, but with less acid than a lemon.
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Here’s one way to use tangerines, by juicing them. You can freeze the rest for use later in the year.
Tangerine
Drizzle Cake
By Erren Hart
Makes 10 slices
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing it with butter.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together until smooth:
1 stick softened butter
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons tangerine zest, finely grated
1/3 cup tangerine juice fresh from the fruit
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 teaspoon salt ( if you used unsalted butter)
Fill the prepared pan with the batter.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. (Begin testing after 30 minutes, as all ovens vary)
Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes in the pan.
While the cake is cooling in the pan, mix together:
4 tablespoons tangerine juice or the juice from three tangerines
1/2 cup sugar
While the cake is still warm, transfer to a wire rack and prick the warm cake all over with a skewer and then drizzle over the cake, the juice will sink into the cake and the sugar will form a nice, crisp topping.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.
