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Mandarin
Citrus reticulata · Citrus
1 variety40 pairings
The mandarin (Citrus reticulata) is the loose-skinned, easy-peel sweet citrus — the group that includes tangerines, clementines and satsumas. Smaller, sweeter and far less acidic than an orange, it slips out of its thin, puffy rind in seconds and falls apart into segments that pull cleanly away. More than a snack fruit, it is one of the three ancestral citrus species from which oranges, grapefruits and most cultivated citrus descend.
Picking a good onedrag
Heavy, taut, tight-buttonedPuffy, light, drying out
Shop freshSnacking, salads, segments over a cake or a fennel plate.Everyday best
Weight in handSolid, rind just moving on the flesh
RindOrange with a green patch at the shoulder
The buttonButton on, browning at its edge
Smell at the rindFaintly sweet, mostly clean
What to look for, from heavy, taut, tight-buttoned to puffy, light, drying out.
What one gives you
74%
Usable yield
88 g · peel and pips out
119 g
Typical weight
one specimen
Keeping ittap a band
Below 5 C the thin rind pits and then rots, worse the colder and longer it sits, and it shows only once the fruit warms up. Most fridges run colder - use the crisper.
Humidity
90-95%
Loose in the crisper, unwashed - the thin rind gives up water fast and the segments go dry and papery.
Airflow
Ventilated
A vented bag or an open bowl; sealed in plastic the rind sweats and blue mould starts at the button.
Colours the rind, never sweetens it
Non-climacteric: a neighbouring apple or banana deepens the rind colour but never sweetens the flesh, and its ethylene drops the button and starts stem-end rot.