I have solved the small orange problem

[noblegiraffe]

I just saw a Waitrose billboard that said "You know it's Christmas when you peel your first clementine" which made me think "I know it's Christmas when I consider Pigs in Blankets to be a viable crisp flavour" but it got me mulling over the issue of small oranges, and I think I have finally solved it.

The correct order for small oranges is:

1. Mandarin - the <chef's kiss> of small oranges.

2. Satsuma - a solid entry in the small orange category, easy to peel. Sometimes you get the odd duff tasteless one but usually delicious.

3. Tangerines - could be ranked higher but rarely on the shelves so I kind of forget they exist.

and WAY down the bottom, basically in the bin

4. Clementines - the absolute worst. What is up with that horrible flavour? You'd get a better orange experience from drinking some juice straight after brushing your teeth. They try to disguise them by rebranding them 'easy peelers'. Look at the small print and it's a covert clementine.

I think this is one thing we can all agree on this Christmas.

Oh yes, bloody love them. We'll have to agree to disagree about the number of servings though

Whether clementine, satsuma or tangerine, you can bet that there is invariably at least one rotten squishy one in every net in the supermarket. You can smell it too - a slight acetone whiff.

I used to absolutely love them all but lately the nets of ‘easy peelers’ I have bought have all been somewhere on the scale between disappointing and downright nasty.

i like pomelos though they’re quite different from other citrus fruit - kind of dry as you say but not in a bad way. I usually share one with teen DS so that’s 2 servings! The skin is so thick, so there’s less pomelo inside than you expect IME.

I get the feeling I am going to spend far too long scrutinising the small oranges when I do the Big Shop this weekend. I've not heard of some of these things.

I do like the thought that other people are going to be scrutinising the small oranges and saying "Oh, so there are different types!"

I’ve just scrutinised the label on a bag of Tesco Finest Easy Peelers in the kitchen and there was no further detail. I think they are clementines.

DH must be spoiling us. I checked the box, we are currently enjoying Asda Extra Special Sweetclems.

Sorry, still prefer clementines. Mandarins taste weird and remind me of my childhood tinned fruit.

If they taste nothing like an orange should taste then they definitely are.

Mandarins taste weird and remind me of my childhood tinned fruit.

That reminds me that my mum used to make a cheesecake decorated with tinned mandarin segments that was a favourite. No idea if it was her idea or something that was popular back then, but I now have a longing for tinned mandarin.

What are people's views on kumquats? A bit like those Harry Potter jelly beans. You never know what you are getting.

I'm not sure I'd know what to do with a kumquat if I came across one.

Having googled, you're supposed to eat the peel??

Oo yes tinned mandarins

How come though? How come?

That tangerine can sometimes be a colour, but clementine, satsuma and mandarin aren’t? But orange is? Dh told me the colour orange didn’t have a name until oranges were imported in the 16th century. Orange was known as reddy-yellow. This is why robins have red breasts, when they are really orange. ( Fascinating conversations in our house, although this one was quite interesting)

This is what confuses me.

Hate the bother of peeling them so now I do what my DM always did. Slice them crosswise, then take each slice, nick a break in the skin with a finger nail, then you can pull each slice into a long strip & eat the flesh leaving a long strip of skin behind.
In Georgian times they never ate them, they made a hole in them & sucked the juice out through the hole.

My DF, who was a small child during WWII and hence got one orange a year in his Christmas stocking, used to slice them thinly, pour boiling water over, sprinkle with sugar, leave to cool then spend an hour eating them.

The peel of a kumquat is really sweet and delicious then the inside is eyewateringly bitter.

Ooh pomelo. Wonder if Waitrose have any. They are dry but in a lovely way. M&S nets of whateverthefuck small oranges have been the driest for me this year.

Tinned mandarins. Delicious! But only in their own fruit juice (not syrup - bleurgh). Slurped from the bowl. I prefer it to freshly squeezed orange juice (too acidic)

Anyone shopping this week and poring over the mini orange selection will be giving knowing looks to any others seen doing the same. Perhap a secret code is in order - Ooh Juicy! <wink>

Just pop the whole thing into your mouth, one shot.

It will be like a surprise fruit party going on in there.

It goes from one extreme to the other. Sweet then really bitter. They don't sound great, but I like them a whole lot.

Can I just say.... I have never seen a small orange (naartjie) with a leaf on. 👀. But then we don't get them at Christmas time as winter in June July here so they don't need the festive look I suppose. (and they are a cheap fruit so no bells and whistles for us)

Our waitrose sometimes has pomelos, but our Asian grocer is more likely to so that’s worth a try if you can’t find them in a supermarket.

I love tangerines (etc) with leaves, they’re so pretty.

I am going to Tesco today. I shall be having a close examination of the citrus section.

Please report back with at least a spreadsheet. A powerpoint presentation would be even better.

Haha - not much point in a spreadsheet as it was wall to wall clementines.
In the photo, there is one box devoted to pink grapefruit and all the feast (including the big boxes on the right) are clementines. The one empty box was for Satsumas!

I’m amazed that some of you think that all the “small oranges” taste the same! They’re completely different! Size, shape, texture, flavour, peel- all different. Either you haven’t been looking at the labels or loads of people have no tastebuds like my DH

On 2 separate and unconnected occasions, my sister has made Nigella's clementine cake for people who turned out to have died by the time she delivered it.

A firm vote here for a navel orange in season.