January 9, 2008

BY MICHELE KAYAL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Clementines are a growing part of the winter food season, and it's not too late to catch them at their peak.

Sometimes called Christmas oranges because they're most prominent in supermarkets between Thanksgiving and early January, these small, slightly flat mandarins generally are sold in 5-pound boxes.

Thin-skinned, easy to peel and (most pleasantly) seedless, intensely sweet clementines stand out as snacking fruit, especially for children.

Americans are expected to eat more than 180,000 tons of clementines this year, most of them from Spain and California, according to U.S. government and industry figures.

Domestic growers have only recently plunged into the more than $69-million industry. Clementines first came to the United States in 1909 from Algeria and were grown sporadically in Florida and California, says Tracy Kahn, curator of the Citrus Variety Collection at the University of California, Riverside.

But Americans first developed a real taste for them in 1997 when a crop-crushing freeze in Florida forced buyers to import tons of citrus, including clementines.

"This has been an explosion within the last five to seven years out of California," says Scott Owens, vice president of sales and marketing for Paramount Citrus in Delano, Calif., which along with partner Sun Pacific grows 74% of all U.S. clementines.

Paramount harvested its first trees in 2004, and this season Owens says the American industry is expected to produce 135,000 tons of clementines. Their popularity has grown so fast -- and so suddenly -- that 2007 marks the first year the government has tracked them separately from other citrus.

"There are a lot of people out there planting them," he says. "It's a segment of the citrus industry that's really growing now. And the industry overall is flat. So it's nice to have something new and fresh."

Sometimes said to have been an accidental hybrid discovered by French missionary Father Clement Rodier in the garden of his orphanage in Algeria, clementines are generally considered by scientists to be a type of Chinese mandarin, says Khan.

There are dozens of varieties, she says, all very similar.

The one grown most often in the United States is the clemnule. Clementines also are naturally seedless as long as they remain isolated from other types of trees and are not cross-pollinated.

Clementine season runs from late October through April. Stick to the window between Thanksgiving and early January for the best quality. Select fruit that is shiny and free of spots, smells fragrant and feels heavy in the hand. Store them in a cool place for up to two weeks.

Organic clementines are sometimes available. Even though the skin isn't consumed, conventional clementines are sprayed from blossom to harvest, something for organics devotees to consider.


Source: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/FEATURES02/801090388/1025/FEATURES

My wife bought 5 clementine mandarins at the local grocery. They do not compare in quality to the satsumas in my back yard.

I'm out of my sister's satsumas now, so I just bought this years first 5# box of Spanish clementines today. That last batch of satsumas was really good.

I've eaten a couple of boxes of Clementines so far. Quality seems to be rather variable. The good ones I've had were very good. The others were mediocre and past their prime I think. The good ones were as good as most tangerines I've had here in Florida though a good Murcott, Ponkan, or Page can hold their own against them any day.

The little wood boxes do a pretty good job of protecting the fruit which makes it easier to ship them long distances.

.....Alan.

Heh-heh! I still got some Yosemite Gold and Shasta Gold satsumas after the storm. they're starting to taste good. They would be very good around Valentines Day and could last until late summer if left alone. I don't think they're going to last that long when my kids start to notice me sneaking some for "tasting".