The fruit is used fresh in many dishes including salads, desserts and entrees, and the juice is used in making orange juice concentrate. The segments are easy to separate, and the flesh has seeds. The orange color of a Mandarin Orange tends to be deeper or richer than a standard Orange, and the shape is a bit squashier due to the looseness of the skin. The Mandarin is one of three original citrus fruits (including the Citron and Pomelo) that lead to all other citrus fruits – in fact, Texas Navels, Valencias (a summer orange), Blood Oranges and all other standard Oranges are thought to have originated with a Mandarin/Pomelo hybrid. Here’s a guide to the three most popular: Mandarin: The Mother Fruit!īefore we had oranges and tangerines, we had Mandarins – in fact, Mandarins are one of the original citrus species that, through breeding or natural hybridization, serves as the ancestor of many hybrid citrus cultivars.Ĭompared to Florida, California, or Texas Navel Oranges, Mandarins are smaller, with thinner, looser skins. In some varieties it may be sweeter, in others a bit tangier, but it’s there in all it’s smaller-sized cousins, including the Tangerine, Clementine, Satsuma and Mandarin.īut how do these miniature, orange-like fruits differ from one another? Are they different from one another? Before you buy oranges online, you should know.

It’s round and orange, but is it an orange? Color aside (fun fact: the color was named for the fruit, not the fruit for the color, but that’s another story), oranges have a distinctive tangy-sweet flavor that can’t be mistaken for anything else.

Tangerines and clementines