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The other evening, Glynis and I stopped into one of our favorite restaurants in Louisville, KY. Lilly’s Place makes the most wonderful food, including the best home made chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted. This is so good, that I usually have just that for my dinner. I love it when it arrives in its beautiful crystal wine glass with fresh, stoned, Bing cherries in the bottom and sprinkled on the top. This evening, the cherries were not available, but they had mandarin oranges. Here I am, 70 years old and have never eaten a mandarin orange. Or at least I thought I had not. I said, “o.k., bring it on”. While Glynis had a wonderful trout dinner, I had that for dinner. What a great compliment the mandarin orange was to the rich chocolate ice cream!
Our oldest son, Don, at the time of this writing is the President & CEO of Hales Fruit Company in Fl. Prior to that he was with another fruit company for over 20 years, eventually getting to the same position. During that time, we have received and eaten plenty of wonderful oranges. However, none were mandarin oranges.
Upon finishing this wonderful desert of mandarin oranges and chocolate ice cream, I decided to do some research on oranges, especially, mandarins. Lo and behold, I had eaten them. Last year at Thanksgiving, our daughter-in-law, Pam had brought us a small case of Clementine oranges.
Our oldest daughter, Donna, who lives in Florida, has a back yard loaded with different types of citrus trees and it is one of life’s truest blessings to be able to go out and pick fresh oranges and grapefruits, bring them in and squeeze one’s morning juice.
Oranges did not play “big” in my childhood. At Christmas we got an orange and some nuts in our stocking. Rarely did an orange appear in our meal times any other time of the year. Our stock fruit were apples and occasionally a banana. I suppose today, we can claim to be “fruit challenged” or “orange deprived”!
So oranges are a big part of our lives today and if one is ambitious enough, lives far enough south then one can seriously consider planting some orange trees or any kind of citrus trees. One can even plant one in a container and drag it inside each winter or if you have a climate controlled greenhouse, why not plant an orange tree or two or three?
My philosophy is when you are going to do something you better know a lot about it, so I want to share some really good orange information with you.
Oranges are the largest citrus crop in the world. Brazil produces more oranges than any other country, followed by the United States, China, Spain and Mexico. The delicious, sweet, juicy oranges that we eat in the United States first came from China. The two most common varieties of oranges are navel oranges and Valencia oranges.
Carl’s favorite oranges are Navel oranges, which are the most popular “eating” orange in the world. Navel oranges are seedless, easy to peel, juicy, and taste wonderful. Amber orange is a navel orange!
How did navel oranges get their name? The bottom of a navel orange looks like a bellybutton or a navel. Fruit specialists believe that the navel is a smaller fruit attached to the main orange. You can see this smaller fruit when you peel and separate a navel orange. As this smaller fruit grows the navel on the orange becomes bigger.
The first three navel orange trees were brought from Brazil and planted in Riverside, California in 1873. This new orange variety, called navel, started producing fruit in 1878. Its quality was so superior to any other orange grown in California that it quickly became the most popular. Today, one of the three original trees is still alive and producing fruit.
The best way to enjoy navel oranges is to cut them into sections and eat. Wedges of navel oranges are very popular with athletes because they can be easily eaten for a burst of energy. They are easy to peel and make a great snack. Navel oranges are also a delicious addition to fresh fruit and vegetable salads. It is amazing to realize that one orange counts as one of your serving of your 5 A Day. Also, one orange contains all the vitamin C your body needs for the day!
The story of oranges in America is a kind of a citrus version of how the West was won.
In 1841, William Wilfskill, the guy who planted the first table grape arbor, planted the first orange tree in Los Angeles. Although he was almost laughed out of town for even thinking of selling oranges, he persevered. He sold oranges to gold rush miners and with the completion of the transcontinental railroad, shipped them to St. Louis in 1877, and the California citrus business was off and running.
In 1873, Eliza Tibbets, was given three branches of an orange variety from Brazil, by an official of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By 1878 she had three fruit-bearing trees and had started the navel orange industry in Riverside, California. Today, we're all eating descendants of the Washington navel she developed, and one of the three original trees she started with is still alive and bearing fruit.
Mandarin Oranges:
Mandarin is a group name for a class of oranges with thin, loose peel, which have been dubbed "kid-glove" oranges. These are treated as members of a distinct species, Citrus reticulata Blanco. The name "tangerine" could be applied as an alternate name to the whole group, but, in the trade, is usually confined to the types with red-orange skin. In the Philippines all mandarin oranges are called naranjita. Spanish-speaking people in the American tropics call them mandarina.
Description
The mandarin tree may be much smaller than that of the sweet orange or equal in size, depending on variety. With great age, some may reach a height of 25 ft (7.5 m) with a greater spread. The tree is usually thorny, with slender twigs, broad-or slender-lanceolate leaves having minute, rounded teeth, and narrowly-winged petioles. The flowers are borne singly or a few together in the leaf axils. The fruit is oblate, the peel bright-orange or red-orange when ripe, loose, and separating easily from the segments. Seeds are small, pointed at one end, green inside.
Origin and Distribution
The mandarin orange is considered a native of south-eastern Asia and the Philippines. It is most abundantly grown in Japan, southern China, India, and the East Indies, and is esteemed for home consumption in Australia. It gravitated to the western world by small steps taken by individuals interested in certain cultivars. Therefore, the history of its spread can be roughly traced in the chronology of separate introductions. Two varieties from Canton were taken to England in 1805. They were adopted into cultivation in the Mediterranean area and, by 1850, were well established in Italy. Sometime between 1840 and 1850, the 'Willow-leaf' or 'China Mandarin' was imported by the Italian Consul and planted at the Consulate in New Orleans. It was carried from there to Florida and later reached California.
The 'Owari' Satsuma arrived from Japan, first in 1876 and next in 1878, and nearly a million budded trees from 1908 to 1911 for planting in the Gulf States. Six fruits of the 'King' mandarin were sent from Saigon in 1882 to a Dr. Magee at Riverside, California. The latter sent 2 seedlings to Winter Park, Florida. Seeds of the 'Oneco' mandarin were obtained from India by the nurseryman, P.W. Reasoner, in 1888. In 1892 or 1893, 2 fruits of 'Ponkan' were sent from China to J.C. Barrington of McMeskin, Florida, and seedlings from there were distributed and led to commercial propagation.
The commercial cultivation of mandarin oranges in the United States has developed mostly in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi and, to a lesser extent, in Texas, Georgia and California. Mexico has overproduced tangerines, resulting in low market value and cessation of plantings. The 1971-72 crop was 170,000 MT, of which, 8,600 MT were exported to the United States and lesser amounts to East Germany, Canada and Argentina. There is limited culture in Guatemala and some other areas of tropical America.
These fruits have never been as popular in western countries as they are in the Orient, Coorg, a mountainous region of the Western Ghats, in India, is famous for its mandarin oranges. For commercial exploitation, mandarins have several disadvantages: the fruit has poor holding capacity on the tree, the peel is tender and therefore the fruits do not stand shipping well, and the tree has a tendency toward alternate bearing.
Climate
Mandarin oranges are much more cold-hardy than the sweet orange, and the tree is more tolerant of drought. The fruits are tender and readily damaged by cold.
Varieties
Mandarin cultivars fall into several classes:
Class I, Mandarin:
'Changsa'–brilliant orange-red; sweet, but insipid; seedy. Matures early in the fall. The tree has high cold resistance; has survived 4º F (-15.56º C) at Arlington, Texas. It is grown as an ornamental.
'Le-dar'–arose from a climbing branch discovered on an 'Ellendale Beauty' mandarin tree in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, about 1959. The owners, named Darrow, took bud-wood from the branch and found that it retained its climbing tendency. Commercial propagation was undertaken by Langbecker Nurseries and the name was trademarked in 1965 when over 5,000 budded trees were put on sale. The budded trees produced large fruits, of rich color and high quality, maturing a little later than the parent.
'Emperor'–believed to have originated in Australia, and a leading commercial cultivar there; oblate, large, 2 1/2 in (6.5 cm) wide, 1 3/4 in (4.5 cm) high; peel pale-orange, medium thin; pulp pale-orange; 9-10 segments; seeds long, pointed, 10-16 in number. Midseason. Grown on rough lemon rootstock or, better still, on Poncirus trifoliata.
'Oneco'–closely related to 'Emperor'; from northwestern India; introduced into Florida by P.W. Reasoner in 1888. Oblate to faintly pear-shaped; medium to large, 2 1/2-3 1/2 in (6.25-9 cm) wide, 2 1/4-3 in (5.7-7.5 cm) high; peel orange-yellow, glossy, rough and puffy; pulp orange-yellow, of rich, sweet flavor; 5-10 seeds. Medium to late in season. Tree large and vigorous, high-yielding. Not grown commercially in the United States.
'Willow-leaf'–(China Mandarin')–oblate to rounded, of medium size, 2-2 1/2 in (5-6.25 cm) wide, 1 3/4-2 1/4 in (4.5-5.7 cm) high; peel orange, smooth, glossy, thin; pulp orange, with 10-12 segments; very juicy, of sweet, rich flavor; 15-20 seeds. Early in season. Tree is small to medium, with very slender, willowy branches, almost thornless, and slim leaves. Reproduces true from seed. Grown mainly as an ornamental and for breeding.
Class II, Tangerine:
'Clementine' (Algerian Tangerine')–introduced into Florida by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1909 and from Florida into California in 1914; also brought directly from the Government Experiment Station in Algeria about the same time; round to elliptical; of medium size, 2-2 3/8 in (5-6.1 cm) wide, 2-2 3/4 in (5-7 cm) high; peel deep orange-red, smooth, glossy, thick, loose, but scarcely puffy; pulp deep-orange with 8-12 segments; juicy, and of fine quality and flavor; 3-6 seeds of medium size, non-nuclear; season early but long, extending into the summer. Tree is of medium size, almost thornless; a shy bearer. In Spain it has been found that a single application of gibberellic acid at color-break, considerably reduces peel blemishes and permits late harvesting.
'Clementine' crossed with pollen of the 'Orlando' tangelo produced the hybrid selections, 'Robinson', 'Osceola', and 'Lee', released in 1959. The last two are no longer grown as fruit crops; only utilized in breeding programs.
There are probably 100 varieties of Satsuma in Japan, about a dozen of which have been released in the United States.
One of the Satsuma family’s outstanding attributes is "zipper skin," loose-fitting shells that zip right off with a couple of tugs. Even more significantly, they are seedless, as signs that are conspicuous at Satsuma displays in farmers markets this time of year boast.
But the Clementine has virtues of its own. It is better suited to more of the citrus-growing regions of the United States than the Satsuma, scientists say. While Satsuma’s can shake off a night at 18 degrees with no ill effects, and in fact need relatively cold weather to do their best, Clementine can take more heat.
Besides Clementine taste better, the variety’s fans insist. They are more acidic with old-fashioned tangerine taste.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/ and click on Arlene’s Books you can download or buy my gardening & cook books. All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and we thank you for your attention to this site.
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