In one of the Chinese manuscripts of 1178, about three dozen varieties of oranges and tangerines are described. These fruits are rich in such beneficial elements as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, they contain the lutein and zeaxanthin substances that are useful for vision, which prevent the formation of cataracts and protect the lens from age consolidation.
In their pulp a lot of pectin. And there are recommended them directly with a white mesh enveloping the lobules: it contains a large amount of glycosides, which strengthen the blood vessels.
Meet on the skin ...
The peel of a ripe mandarin should be rich bright orange without specks, and the fruit itself - without dents. A soft flank, most likely, indicates that the fruit is frostbitten or began to rot, and the dried crust indicates that it was stored incorrectly or for too long. Well, if the peel is completely behind the fruit, then almost certainly you will find sweet ripe slices under it. By the way, experts say that sweeter fruits seem harder than their size can be assumed, and acidic ones are somewhat easier.
The shape of the fruit also speaks of sweetness: flattened on top are more acidic, with a lighter thin skin, regardless of the variety and country of origin. Sweet varieties have a more intense bright orange color, regular spherical shape.
Orange geography
In our country, these fruits are imported from several warm countries at once.
Abkhaz tangerines are perhaps the most popular and favorite. The overwhelming majority of them are Unshiu varieties, which have been cultivated here for about a hundred years. They taste sour-sweet, they can meet small bones. They can be recognized by their thin yellowish skin and flattened form.
Spanish are usually larger than the rest. They have a bright orange porous skin, and often in the box among the fruits there are leaves.
Georgian tangerines. This year, for the first time since 2006, our southern neighbors are resuming deliveries of mandarins. They are mainly grown in Ajara. There, the harvest is now twice as much as usual, so that many of us will have the opportunity to recall their almost forgotten taste.
Tangerines from Morocco are small in size, their shape is more round. The skin is bright orange or reddish, easy to clean. The fruits have almost no pits, the taste is sweet.
Turkish have a smoother and thinner skin, orange or yellowish, but are much worse to clean. They taste sweet and sour. And there are more seeds in them than in their counterparts from other countries.
Israeli tangerines are juicy, sweet with a little sourness, but they get on the table only in the middle of winter, as they have a later term of ripening.
Mandarin family
On our shelves can be found and relatives of mandarin, obtained by crossing with other citrus fruits.
Clementine is a mandarin, "married" on orange orange. This fruit was bred in 1902 by a French priest and breeder Father Clement, who lived in Algeria.
They are usually small in size, bright orange, sometimes reddish in color, with thin shiny skin, sweet, juicy and fragrant. Clementines are with a small number of seeds (up to 10 pieces) or even without them. True, among them there are very bony and dryish fruits - this is usually Montreal, one of the varieties of clementines.
Ellendale - Mandarin, crossed with an orange. Its fruit is orange-red, seedless, with a thin skin. Fruits are larger than usual in tangerines, most often seedless, very fragrant and tasty.
Mineola is a hybrid of mandarin and grapefruit. It is easily recognizable by its pear-shaped shape and bright orange color with a reddish tinge. This fruit has a very sweet taste.
Tangelo ( Tangelo ) - Mandarin, crossed with pomelo. Their fruits are large, bright orange, the size of an average orange, to taste they also look like oranges.
By the way, the increased content of nitrates is not about tangerines, these fruits are protected by the citric acid they contain from the accumulation of these substances harmful to us.
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