Now it’s back to the time when the orange-colored citrus fruits fill the supermarket shelves. Mandarins and clementines are popular snacks for us in the wintertime. The sweet fruits are also ideal for winter salads or for baking muffins and fruit bases. But haven’t you ever stood in front of the supermarket display and wondered what the difference is between mandarins and clementines? EAT SMARTER tells you how to tell the delicious citrus fruits apart.

Orange is not the same as orange

Tangerine, clementine, satsuma, or tangerine? Even botanists are sometimes unsure and find it difficult to tell them apart. No wonder, since the tangerine has countless hybrids (descendants of crosses with other citrus fruits). One example is clementine, which is believed to have originated from a cross between a tangerine and a bitter orange. We’ll explain how to tell the two apart:

Tangerines

Mandarins, botanically Citrus reticulata, originate from China and have been cultivated there for over 3,000 years. The word origin is probably in China and is derived from the word Mandarin. That’s what high officials who wore an orange official dress were called. Today the fruits are mainly grown in the western Mediterranean region. The main harvest season in southern Europe begins in late autumn. Therefore, the fruits are mainly available in Germany from October to January.

Clementines

The clementine is the little daughter of the tangerine. It is a cultivated form, crossed from the tangerine and the bitter orange. The clementine owes its name to a French monk named Clément. He grew the fruit around 100 years ago in Algeria.

Differences between tangerines and clementines

If you want to distinguish tangerines from clementines visually, you have to look very closely. The differences usually only become apparent once you know what to look out for.

1. External differences

The peel of the tangerine is slightly darker than that of the clementine. The tangerine is also round like the orange. Clementines tend to be elliptical and flat, often leaving a central cavity inside.

2. Who is easier to peel?

The peel of the clementine is usually more difficult to remove than that of the tangerine. Although it looks thinner, it is much more robust. In the case of tangerine, the so-called loose skin is responsible for the easier peeling off of the skin. This means the cavity between the skin and the flesh of the fruit, becomes wider the longer the fruit is stored.

3. Attention cores

Mandarins are divided into nine to ten segments and, unlike clementines, often contain seeds. The eight to twelve fruit segments of the clementine are almost seedless. Many consumers appreciate this property.

4. Shelf Life

Due to the more robust peel, the clementine can be stored much longer than the tangerine. Whereas these become bitter and inedible after just 2 weeks, clementines can be kept for up to two months if stored correctly.

5. The difference in taste

The taste of the tangerine is tart, but much more intense. In contrast to the orange, it also tastes significantly less acidic. The clementine brings with it a sweet and sour aroma that is less intense than that of the tangerine.

6. Ingredients

If you take a look at the nutritional values ​​​​of clementine and tangerine, the two citrus fruits hardly differ from each other. Both contain hardly any fat and a lot of fructose. Good to know for diabetics is that 100 grams of tangerine do not contain quite one BE*.

Citrus fruits are so healthy

Especially in winter, citrus fruits such as tangerines, clementines, or oranges are popular with young and old. They are not only a tasty snack but also very healthy due to their high vitamin C content. The tangerine contains the least vitamin C of all citrus fruits, but with “only” 32 milligrams per 100 grams, it is not to be scoffed at. If you eat this amount, you already cover a good third of your daily requirement.

The health boosters also contain provitamin A, which plays an important role in cell protection and has a positive effect on skin and eyesight.

Crossbreeding with other citrus fruits has given rise to countless hybrids around the world, including clementine. Two other representatives of the tangerine subspecies are the particularly thin-skinned and juicy satsuma and the very small and sweet tangerine. Both are commonly available in the market; most tangerine varieties and hybrids are not even described in detail, at least in the supermarket.

In ancient China, tangerines were considered a symbol of happiness, wealth, and longevity. That is why the Chinese, going on a visit, took several fruits as a gift to the owners, thereby showing that they wish them all the best. And the hosts, in turn, also gave tangerines to the guests before leaving. There is an assumption that the very name “mandarin”, translated from the Chinese language, means “rich man”.

1. Everyone loves seedless tangerines, but for obvious reasons, they cannot reproduce without human help. Now there are about 50 varieties of these fruits, but they all belong to cultivated plants and are not found in the wild. Most likely, sometime in time immemorial, Chinese breeders bred it.
2. A tangerine tree can grow up to 4-5 meters in height, but it takes about 30 years for it. But from one such large tree, you can collect a solid harvest, for the season it can bring up to 6000-7000 fruits, and in some cases even more.
3. Breeders actively cross tangerines not only with each other but also with other fruits. What is sold in stores often refers to just such hybrids, outwardly very similar to tangerines. Tangerines, for example, which are grown in China more than any other citrus, or clementines, which are a sweet hybrid of mandarin and bitter Seville orange.
4. Of all citrus trees, tangerine is the most resistant to cold weather. Therefore, these fruits have been grown for a long time even in the south of Russia, although winters there are too cold for most other citrus fruits. But tangerines grow well in the Caucasus, in particular, in Abkhazia and Georgia. It takes 6-8 months for the fruit to fully ripen, and the conditions there are quite suitable, the warm season lasts long enough.
5. Like other citrus fruits, tangerines are the strongest allergen. But they still have a lot of useful properties – a huge amount of vitamins, for example. For the inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, these fruits are a valuable source of them in the winter.
6. In cold climates, tangerine trees do not survive because they are classified as evergreens. They do not shed their leaves for the winter, and therefore snow and frost kill them easily.
7. Mandarin juice is not commercially available, unlike orange juice, although the cost of these fruits is comparable. The thing is that orange juice is healthy, it retains many useful properties during processing, but tangerines lose these properties. Therefore, it makes no sense to make juice from them – it will not be useful for the body.
8. The word “mandarin” in a slightly distorted form came to the main European languages from Spanish, and in ancient China, high-ranking government officials were called mandarins, and the Chinese language in English-speaking sources is still called Mandarin. Why the fruit was named as the nobles were called – no one knows. Perhaps the fact is that once in China, only tangerine officials had the right to grow tangerine fruits in their gardens.
9. If we count all the hybrids together, it turns out that tangerines of all citrus fruits are second only to oranges in terms of the scale of the world harvest. They are grown in many countries of the world, although they came to Europe only a few centuries ago, around the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
10. Distinguishing a tasty tangerine from a tasteless one is not difficult even in a store. With prolonged storage, these fruits lose moisture and dry out, and therefore become lighter. Therefore, the heavier the tangerine, the juicier it is likely to be, and the fruits that are too light for their size are likely to be slightly dried and not very sweet.
11. Tangerines are nitrate-free. This is because fruits contain a lot of citric acids, which, due to their properties, neutralizes their harmful effects.
12. Scientists at the Mayo Clinic Science Center have found that tangerines are wonderful to cheer up. Their smell relieves anxiety and stress and charges a person with optimism.
13. Eating tangerines is a great way to recharge with vitamins. This fruit contains the same amount of vitamin C as an orange, and 3 times more vitamin A. Also, tangerines are rich in antioxidants, fiber, and bioflavonoids. Moreover, one fruit contains an average of 40 calories.
14. Don’t rush to throw away the tangerine peels! It can also be used: use it as a flavoring for drinks and desserts. But before doing this, rinse the crusts with water and vinegar to help rinse the chemicals off. Also, avoid using shiny peels, as the gloss means the fruit has been waxed.
15. How do you calculate the most acidic fruits? Very simple! They are of medium size and flattened. These are Unshiu tangerines, and if you do not like sweets, then you should opt for these fruits.
16. Mandarin oil works well against cellulite.
17. To prevent tangerines from spoiling for a long time, simple storage conditions should be observed. These citrus fruits cannot stand dryness and high temperatures, and therefore the bottom drawer of the refrigerator will be the best place for them.