English Name: Clementine
Botanical Name: Citrus reticulata
DESCRIPTION: A small sweet variety of orange citrus fruit from the mandarin family.
Clemetines are much easier to peel than oranges the fruit is often seedless.
ORIGIN: According to Trabut (1902 a, 1902 b, 1926) this is highly important North African Morocco & Spain variety originated as an accidental hybrid in a planting of mandarin seedlings presumably of the common or Mediterranean mandarin, made by Father Clement Rodier in the garden of the orphanage of the Péres du saint — Esprit at Misserghin, a small village near Oran, Algeria. It was one of several aberrant plants Trabut noted and was selected by him and named Clementine by the Horticultural society of Algiers. It was Trabuts conclusion that the seed was the Mediterranean mandarin of C.aurantium known as Granito. Both Webber (1943,p.558) and Tanaka (1954) have expressed doubt concerning the validity of the conclusion.
More recently, Chapot (1963a), the distinguished French authority in North Africa, has refuted it with convincing evidence that Clementine is of oriental origin, probably Chinese, and that it is indistinguishable and probably identical to the Canton mandarin described by Trabut (1926). The Clementine variety was introduced into the United State in 1909 and brought to California from Florida in 1914 by H.S. Fawcett of the citrus Research Center, Riverside.
NATURAL BENEFITS: Clementines are an excellent source of vitamin C, offering an average of 48.8 milligrams per serving. This healthy fruit is also low in calories and fat.
USES: Eaten raw before or after food, made into juice, jam, pudding, marmalade etc.
My Cookery Zone 