My darling Clementine

I’ve never been crazy about oranges, always finding them too acidic and sometimes bitter for my taste. But I go crazy for Clementines. I know some of my counterparts in the Italian blog world have already written about them, but after buying a kilo of them once a week for the last 3 weeks, I had to add my praises as well.

These little gems are smaller than a racquetball, deliciously sweet and seedless. The skin is intensely orange, smooth and thin, and peels off very easily. They’re one of the delights of winter here as they become available in November.

History has it that the clementine was a natural hybrid between two other oranges that occurred in Algeria. Now, the clementine is a type of mandarin orange and are often called mandarins instead of clementines when you see them in the store. However, mandarins are not always seedless and tend to be slightly larger than clementines. They too are much sweeter than the regular orange, so, I always get those when no clementines are available. They’re almost as good, but not quite.

I’ve read that there are clementines grown in California too and that they’re available starting in mid-November so, if you haven’t ever tasted a clementine, check in your local grocery store. They just may have them.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.