Saturday, December 15, 2018

Clémentines

It's that time of year again. Nothing says winter holidays like a bowl of juicy clémentines from the Mediterranean basin. I enjoy them every season. Two or three make a good dessert or evening snack. Of course, we're still working on finishing that batch of gingerbread men.

These clémentines are from Corsica, often sold with leaves attached. The other major sources are Morocco and Spain, usually sold without leaves.

Clémentines are apparently a cross between mandarines and another variety of orange. They're named for an Algerian monk, Brother Clément, who bred them in the late 19th century.  There's also the tangerine, named for the Moroccan city of Tangiers. The differences among these fruits are subtle, and I suspect that French people use the word clémentine as a general category for all of them, although I do see the different varieties marked accordingly in the supermarkets.

I'm planning to put up the holiday tree today. The weather wizards are predicting snow and freezing rain starting later this morning, so we have no plans to leave the house except to take Tasha out for her walks. They may be short walks.

7 comments:

  1. I love these. Here many people commonly lump them all together as mandarinas.

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  2. It makes for a pretty bowl :)
    You are going to show us a photo of the Sapin, right? Hope so :)

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  3. I adore clementines we've had in France so much that we planted a tree. When the bees cross-polinate it with the proper variety (Dancy), we get proper clementines. If the bees go elsewhere first, we get seedy fruit with a tight skin (still tasty though). Every year is a surprise.

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  4. We probably had clementines from Corsica last week then (they had leaves on). :)) Nice to know about that difference! We love them, too. This week's have no leaves. There are probably different varieties from different countries, but they're all called mandarijnen here (NL).

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  5. Mouth-watering goodness, the sweet-tart of the citrus with the taste and texture of gingerbread. Oh, yum.

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  6. mitch, that makes sense. They are good, not matter what you call 'em!

    judy, in the bottom of the bowl is the word "oui." I think it may have belonged to Yoko Ono. LOL!

    chris, I don't think we could do that in our climate! Lucky you!

    elgee, similar to Spain...

    emm, I should try them together!

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  7. I know I am late for this one , but I concur - when clementines appear in the supermarket I know it's christmas time.

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