Mandarin Season. Really Different Than You Expect!
Mandarin is that delicious sweet little citrus fruit that you can easily peel. If the peel is too tight, it is always a matter of rolling between your hands to loosen the peel from the fruit. It is an easy snack with a lot of vitamins. Mandarins are very popular in the Netherlands, but when is the mandarin season now?
Mandarin season. The mandarin season used to run from October to February. The mandarins then came mainly from Spain and Morocco. Now there are also mandarins from Brazil, among others, and they are available all year round in the supermarket or greengrocer. A real mandarin season no longer exists.
Did you know that the mandarin is one of the primal citrus fruits, along with the grapefruit and the lemon citron. All other citrus fruits descend from these 3 primal fruits. If you want to know more about this, you can read our article about what citrus fruits are.
Mandarin Season Netherlands
Years ago, the mandarin was a real seasonal fruit. The season ran from November to February and it gave a real summer feeling when you ate a mandarin in those months. However, mandarins are now grown all over the world where it is warm. As a result, there are now always mandarins in the supermarket.
The picked mandarins are stored and preserved. This also makes them available in the supermarket all year round.
The most famous variety of mandarins is the Clementine. This mandarin is slightly larger than the normal mandarins and has a slightly bitter taste, because this is a cross between the ordinary mandarin and the bitter Pomerans. This gives the Clementine a slightly bitter taste. However, this Clementine is also packed with vitamin C.
When Mandarin Season?
If we look at the picking of the mandarin season, it runs from November to February in our region (Europe and Africa). This is when the mandarins are picked and transported to the supermarkets. These mandarins do not go into storage (or are for a short period of time).
Canned Mandarins
Mandarins are available fresh but can also be bought in other forms in the supermarket.
The well-known canned peeled mandarins, for example. These mandarins are skinned with heavy chemical agents and then rinsed clean again. I don’t eat them myself, but you sometimes come across them as decoration on a cake.
In addition, you can also encounter mandarins in dried form. They have a longer shelf life this way.
And e are of course the mandarin slices with chocolate. Some can’t stay away from this sweet snack.
