I love the small an sweet mandarins oranges any opinions on the best.
Satsuma. tangelo. Tangerine.
Or any varieties you know of
please include if it had a variety name like minnelo tangelo for exams
I will be purchasing one next week that's why
thx everyone in advance [/url]

If I could have only one citrus tree, I would plant a Page Mandarin.

A great many citrus experts, proclaim the Page Mandarin as the best tasting citrus variety of them all. - Millet (1,118-)

Page is very good. To me it tastes like a cross between tangerine and orange. The fruit size can be pretty small though, like many fruit golf ball sized. It peels easily. I really like minneola and temple. I haven't planted a temple as they are not supposed to be particularly cold hardy. Nova is really good also, peels easily. Fairchild is really good as well. They ALL taste different and delicious. Your choice! These are some of my favorites.

Some I've changed my mind to nyet on are: panzarella orange, wekiwa tangelo, golden grapefruit, ujukitsu sweet lemon. They aren't bad but there are better.

This is from a Garden Web forum from last spring.

"A Page (commonly called 'Page Orange') is a hybrid of a Minneola Tangelo and a Clementine mandarin. This makes it a Tantangelo by standard nomenclature but the name is seldom used by anyone. A Minneola is a hybrid of a Dancy tangerine and a Bowen grapefruit. The page is therefore 3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit by ancestry."

I am not sure what the Bowen grapefruit is, but I usually have seen Duncan as the grapefruit parent. I found this in a FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1962 publication

"In the literature the female parent is referred to as Bowen grapefruit. According to E. M. Savage, former plant breeder for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the female parent was a Duncan grapefruit on the property of a Mr. Bowen. There is no Bowen grapefruit variety."

I still say Ponkan is the best mandarin. Very sweet & large for a mandarin.

Ponkan - large fruit
page - small but good
fairchild- very good
I guess I'll have to narrow it down from here. I'll be heading out on Saturday to purchase one of these unless there is any others on the top of the list

Fairchild is very seedy. You can purchase Fairchild in the supermarket at this time, if you wish to test it. - Millet (1,114-)

I went through this and ended up choosing the Owari Satsuma Mandarin.

link

Although good tasting, satsuma is more sweet than anything. The other tangerines listed have a more intense flavor to me than satsuma.

In reality, there are probably five different citrus varieties that could be ranked as "best". - Millet (1,113-)

People around my area love Kishu, Gold Nugget, pixie and Ponkan. I have not tasted them, so cannot vouch for them personally.

Well,
I haven't tasted a Page yet, but from my narow view of taste, the "Ortanique" has the most impressive flavor.
It's somewhat difficult to peel, but the taste equals this backdraw...

My two favorite (out of what i grow) are page and fairchild. Nova is pretty good too. Many of my satsumas taste bland in contrast. Seto has been the best tasting of my satsumas & miho very bland. Clemenule has a good taste, but my fruit of this was large and puffy this year- too much rain in Oct

'Ortanique' and 'Page' are certainly excellent, and top contenders for "best." I do think it becomes a matter of personal taste. My picks for first and second (and I'm not sure which order I'd put them in, there) would be 'Minneola' (Florida grown or at least hot-weather grown) and 'Temple'.

'Owari' develops better flavor in climates cooler than ours, so for that reason, I don't think of it as a particularly good fruit. But I've eaten them in the production area of Louisiana, where they were really excellent.

Malcolm

In my yard right now, I have Owari, Ponkan, Daisy, Murcott, Minneola, and a variety that was just called Mandarin when I got the budwood from FL DPI. I have had Page, but not this yr.

I would have to say the best this yr is Daisy--very sweet and juicy, but they do have a tighter peel.

Second would be Ponkan and I would put them as a tie with Page last yr.

Third would be Murcott, then Minneola (a little tart to me, but good flavor), Owari (could be due to the fact that it is the first major crop for this tree), and last the "Mandarin".