Why are our first mandarins partly green?

Some of our customers are surprised by the green colour of our first mandarins.

So we would like to explain the difference between these fruits and those you find at a conventional greengrocer’s.

The Clemenrubí and Oronules varieties are early clementines which are still partly green on the skin even when they have reached their optimum ripeness for eating. They only turn orange all over once they are quite ripe, by which time they no longer keep as long.

In conventional trade, fruit is usually treated after harvest with ethylene gas and artificial temperature changes to achieve the typical orange skin of mandarins and oranges. This process is called “degreening”.

Our products, on the other hand, undergo no treatment after harvest. They ripen on the tree and are picked at the moment they reach the best degree of ripeness. The partly green colour may seem odd to you, but the mandarins are nevertheless ripe, and their taste is excellent precisely because they have not been treated.

The freshly squeezed juice is excellent too. You can buy the fruit here:

ORDER MANDARINS

You can find more information in the following articles:

• PLANET WISSEN: Anbau und Handel – vom Baum in den Laden (Growing and trade – from the tree to the shop, German)
• BOTANIK GUIDE: Ach so! Darum können auch grüne Orangen reif sein (Aha! Why green oranges can be ripe too, German)
• SPEKTRUM.DE: Orangen sind grün, nicht orange (Oranges are green, not orange, German)

Orangen frisch nach Hause

For years we have been pointing to direct shipping from Ruth Palomero’s plantation in València. There you can order oranges and mandarins directly from the farmer to your home, without any middlemen. It (almost) doesn’t get any fresher or more convenient. We gain nothing financially from orders. We are simply happy to recommend it.

RUTH’S HOMEPAGE (German)