Satsuma

Satsuma oranges were all the rage in our house around Christmas when we were going overboard on all things citrus, from tangerines to mandarin oranges. And Satsuma oranges might just be the prettiest of the bunch with their beautiful green stems. It beats me why we waited so long to try them as part of our challenge, but I’m glad that we finally did. We didn’t get any earth-shattering reactions from the kids, but still a fun fruit to explore.

ME: What is this called?

LAUREN: An orange!

ME: Yeah, but it’s a special kind of orange. Have you ever seen an orange with the leaves still attached? See? The leaves are still attached.

EMMA: It looks like cranberry juice.

ME: We did an orange a long time ago.

LAUREN: But it was much bigger.

ME: Yeah, it was bigger and it kind of had a funny shape didn’t it?

LAUREN: Yeah. The ugly orange.

ME: Lauren you have such a good memory.

EMMA: It’s kind of like orange juice.

ME: OK, so be careful, I don’t want you guys to poke yourselves with the stem. These are special oranges and you find them in the grocery store with the stems attached. I don’t know why they still have the stems attached, but let’s see what it looks like on the inside.

(cutting)

LAUREN: It kind of looks like a clementine.

ME: It does look like a clementine. Smell it.

LAUREN: It smells a little different when it’s open. This smells a little lighter and clementines smell a little darker.

ME: What does it taste like?

LAUREN: It tastes like kind of sour, and kind of sweet. A little more sour and sweeter than a real orange.  Because it can’t taste the same.

SAM: It tastes like sweet potatoes.

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Sumo-mandarinI love this big orange.  Whoever decided to combine the easy peel-ability of the mandarin orange with the size and juiciness of a navel is clearly some kind of fruit goddess.  It’s not the prettiest fruit, definitely not the kind you’d want to have on display in your kitchen in a big glass bowl.  It’s like the shar-pei of the fruit world, so ugly that it’s actually kind of cute.  Its deeply textured skin makes it look more like an old man’s nose than something you’d want to eat. But once you get past that gnarled exterior, heaven awaits.

ME: So this crazy thing is called a sumo mandarin.  It’s a cross between a navel orange and a mandarin.

What does it look like?

SAM:  “Round and round and round, like a volcano. On the top it looks like exploding fire.”

LAUREN:  “It looks like a balloon upside down.”

What does it feel like?

LAUREN:  “Thick.  It’s thick when I scratch it.”

What does it smell like?

LAUREN:  “It smells like a real orange.”

Who’s ready to try this real orange?

ME:  “First I take off the volcano top.   The cool thing about it is that it peels like a mandarin orange….”

SAM:  “But inside it’s a real orange!”

ME:  “Do you guys love it?

LAUREN:  “This orange is hairy.”

ME:  “Don’t throw those strings on the ground!”

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