Mandarin orange (fruit)

Mandarin oranges

The mandarin orange, also known as the mandarin,^[1] is the fruit of the mandarin tree^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} (or bush).^[8][9]

Among the most common types of mandarins are Citrus reticulata, Citrus unshiu, Citrus reshni, and various hybrids.^[10][11] Clementines and tangerines are also marketed as "mandarins".^[12][11]

Appearance and structure

Mandarin orange fruits are small (4 to 8 cm). Their color is orange,^[13] orange-yellow,^[14] or orange-red.^[4] Their shape is spherical or oblate (flattened at the poles).^[15][14][13]

The skin is thin and peels off easily.^[15][16] Their easiness to peel is an important advantage of mandarine oranges over other citrus fruits that all are more difficult to peel.^[16][17][8]

Just like with other citrus fruits, the endocarp (inner flesh) is separated into segments, which in their turn consist of a large number of elongated cells.^[18]

The fruits may be seedless or contain a small number of seeds.^[13]

Nutritional value

Mandarin orange fruits are sweet to taste. They can be eaten as whole or squeezed to make juice.^[19] They can also be dried.^[17]

The fruits contain a large amount of sugar (up to 10.5%), vitamins C, B1, B2, provitamin A, free organic acids, phytoncides, lectins, and mineral salts.^[19]

The vitamin C in mandarin oranges is perfectly preserved in long-term storage. Since mandarin oranges ripen in November–December, they can be a source of vitamins during the winter for people living in the Northern Hemisphere.^[19]

Cultivation

The fruit yield is high, up to 5-6 thousand fruits per tree in a favorable year.^[16]

Mandarin orange is the most cultivated citrus fruit in China, tropical Asia, India, Japan, the Mediterranean, and in Florida in the United States. A hardy Japanese species of mandarin orange called unshiu is grown in Russia on the Black Sea coast of Caucasus and in the Krasnodar Region.^[16]

References