S & J Mandarin Grove Is Your Source For Delicious, Juicy, Organically Grown Mandarin Oranges From Placer County, California
We are a small family-owned mandarin orchard that grows organic Owari Satsuma mandarins, Okitsu Wase Satsuma mandarins, Pixies, Tangos, and Clementine mandarin oranges in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Our primary crop of Owari Satsuma mandarins are shipped throughout the United States, with our other varieties available by special request.
Organic food is better for your family’s health and the planet. Feeding your family organic food reduces your risk of exposure to pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones, and promotes the development of long-lasting, good eating habits. There are numerous health benefits to eating mandarin oranges, including the fact that S & J organic mandarins have high doses of Vitamin C and synephrine — a natural decongestant that helps relieve cold and allergy symptoms.
Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a CCOF accredited certifier inspects the farm to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet CCOF organic standards.
We recently changed ownership and are in the process of being recertified, but we still follow the same organic practices S and J Mandarin Grove is known for. We expect our certification to become active in January.
Certified organic produce is grown on soil that has been free of prohibited substances for three years prior to harvest to ensure that the crops will not be contaminated. Focused on the use of renewable resources and conservation of soil and water, organic farmers enhance and sustain the environment for future generations.
S & J Mandarin Grove does not apply any synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. We use all natural products in accordance with the requirements of the National Organic Program (NOP) and the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI).
We are proud to say that since 2006, S & J Mandarin Grove has been fully certified with California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Since certification is not transferable with a change of ownership (which took place Oct. 1, 2023), we are currently in the process of getting our new certification. During mandarin season (late November through early February), S and J has had a booth at the Sunday Sacramento Certified Farmers’ Market for several years. While we will not be at the Farmers’ Market for the 2023-24 season, we hope to return next year.
We hand-pick our mandarins at the peak of ripeness. This means that unlike the brands of mandarins found in grocery stores, we do not coat our fruit with a plant-based wax to keep them shiny and looking fresh.
Owari Satsuma Mandarins
Owari Satsuma Mandarin trees are cold-hardy, productive, and vigorous-growing, but mature to a small size with a spreading and somewhat drooping character. The tree is more drought-tolerant than the fruit.
The Owari Satsuma Mandarin is a mid-season fruit, with its harvest season being late November to January in most areas of California. It varies in shape depending upon the conditions where it is grown, but is most commonly oblate with a smooth, thin rind that is easily peeled. The fruit is orange, tender and juicy, seedless, and sweet in flavor.
When fully ripe, the skin or peel of Satsuma mandarin oranges is slightly bumpy and loose. This makes the small, sweet citrus easy to peel, even for young children. As a result, it has been nicknamed the “zipper fruit” because the peel just “zips off.”
Pixie Mandarin
Pixie mandarin, also called Pixie tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanco), is a variety of mandarin that is late ripening and seedless. Very Juicy!
Current Facts
The Pixie tangerine was developed by Howard B. Frost at the University of California Citrus Research Center at Riverside in 1927. The Pixie is a hybrid result of an open cross pollination between a King Mandarin and a Kincy tangerine, the most popular and prolific of all tangerines.
Nutritional Value
Tangerines, as well as other citrus fruits, offer a source of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber. Ideal for low-acid diets, Pixie tangerines have a lower acid content than many citrus varieties. One medium tangerine or mandarin contains about 50 calories.
Tango Mandarin
Citrus ‘Tango’ Mandarin (Citrus reticulata)
‘Tango’ is a delicious new mandarin with superior fruit quality and flavor. It’s totally seedless with easy-to-peel fruit that averages about 2.5″ in diameter. The sweet, juicy fruit starts maturing in January and will hold onto the tree until April or May.
Parentage/origins: Tango is the result of a mutation induced by irradiating budwood of W. Murcott Afourer mandarin.
You think you know mandarins. The cute little slices are everywhere these days – in fruit cups in the grocery store, in salads in restaurants, in kid’s meals in the drive-through. It’s time for something new.
Step aside little cuties…say hello to Tango.
Tango Mandarin was developed only a few years ago by the brilliant scientists at UC Riverside in one of California’s best citrus growing regions. They wanted a clementine-type of fruit that was a little bigger, a little better, a little juicier and a little easier to grow than what was currently on the market. Thanks to some intricate scientific cyphering combined with some special SoCal fairy-dust they were able to introduce Tango to the world.
Easy peel and super juicy with no seeds! This is the mandarin your kids’ dream of. The trees are hardy, covered in glossy green leaves. The fruit matures in January and hangs on fast through April.
Only on the commercial market since 2010. Beautiful fruit and so delicious!
- Seedless Sweet Fruit
- Vigorous Grower
- Winter blooms with an amazing scent
Clementine Mandarin
A clementine (Citrus × clementina) is a tangor, a hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange (C. × deliciosa) and a sweet orange (C. × sinensis) so named in 1902. The exterior is a deep orange color with a smooth, glossy appearance. Clementines can be separated into 7 to 14 segments. Similar to tangerines, they tend to be easy to peel. They are typically juicy and sweet, with less acid than oranges. Their oils, like other citrus fruits, contain mostly limonene as well as myrcene, linalool, α-pinene, and many complex aromatics.
History
Italian cultivar, Clementine del golfo di Taranto
The clementine is a spontaneous citrus hybrid that arose in the late 19th century in Misserghin, Algeria, in the garden of the orphanage of Brother Marie-Clément, for whom it would be formally named in 1902. Some sources have attributed an earlier origin for the hybrid, pointing to similar fruit native to the provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong in present-day China, but these are likely distinct mandarin hybrids, and genomic analysis of the clementine has shown it to have arisen from a cross between a sweet orange (Citrus × sinensis) and the Mediterranean willowleaf mandarin (Citrus × deliciosa), consistent with Algerian origin. There are three types of clementines: seedless clementines, clementines (maximum of 10 seeds), and Monreal (more than 10 seeds). Clementines resemble other citrus varieties such as the satsuma and tangerines.
Clementines differ from other citrus in having lower heat requirements, which means the tolerance to fruit maturity and sensitivity to unfavorable conditions during the flowering and fruit-setting period is higher. However, in regions of high total heat, the Clementine bears fruit early; only slightly later than satsuma mandarins. These regions such as North Africa, the Mediterranean basin, and California, also favor maximizing the Clementine size and quality. As a result, the tastiest Clementines are from these hot regions
Okitsu Wase Satsuma Mandarin
The Okitsu Wase Satsuma Mandarin Orange originated in Japan and is an early maturing Satsuma Mandarin. Owari Satsuma matures later and is the most commonly planted Satsuma Mandarin in California, but Okitsu Wase is also widely grown.
The Okitsu Satsuma Tree is a newer, improved variety of Satsuma, remarkable for its vigorous growth, heavy crops, super-sweet fruit and great flavor. The beautiful evergreen foliage is a glossy green all year round, and the white flowers are fragrant and will fill the air with perfume. The fruit is a beautiful orange-red when ripe and the peel just falls away from the segments, which rarely have even one seed in them. Your family and children will love to eat this fruit throughout the holiday season, before Thanksgiving and all the way to Christmas.
The fragrant, ‘orange-blossom’ white flowers appear in spring or in fall, and they are followed by tiny green fruit. As the season passes these grow and ripe. they will turn from green to a beautiful red-orange color as they begin to ripen. They will be ready to harvest as early as October, but they will hold well on the tree until the end of December.
Owari Satsuma Mandarin
Nothing can compare to that zesty, sugary sweet flavor. It’s an experience like no other, and the Owari Satsuma is the best Mandarin to bring that experience. Sweet, juicy and super easy to peel.
History
Satsuma mandarin may have originated in China but it was first reported in Japan more than 700 years ago where it is now the major cultivar grown. It was first introduced in the 1800s by early settlers along the banks of the Mississippi River near New Orleans.
The ‘Owari’ Satsuma arrived from Japan, first in 1876 and next in 1878. During the period 1908-1911, nearly a million budded trees from 1908 to 1911 for planting in the Gulf States. The first recorded introduction into the United States was in Florida by George R. Hall in 1876. The name “satsuma” is credited to the wife of a United States minister to Japan, General Van Valkenberg, who sent trees home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province, now Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island, where it is believed to have originated.
Today 80 percent of the citrus grown in Japan are Satsuma mandarins. The Satsuma—of which there are at least 70 varieties–is more tolerant of cold than other citrus trees. In the United States, Satsumas are grown where the winters are too cold for other citrus—in places like northern Florida, the Gulf Coast of Texas and the Sierra foothills of California. One well known Satsuma cultivar–‘Owari’—has a rich, tart-sweet flavor and is widely grown in California. The Satsuma is a small bright orange mandarin with a delicate, sweet flavor. It is seedless and contains less acid than most other mandarins. If you have ever bought a can of imported mandarin oranges, you have probably tasted the Satsuma.
The Satsuma like many other mandarins are sometimes called zipper-skin oranges or kid-glove oranges. The references are to how easily the skin is pulled away.
Nutrition
High in vitamin C and contains about 45 calories.
Cultural significance
Mandarin fruitlets
During Chinese New Year, mandarin oranges/tangerine/satsumas are considered traditional symbols of abundance and good fortune. During the two-week celebration, they are frequently displayed as decoration and presented as gifts to friends, relatives, and business associates. Mandarin oranges, particularly from Japan, are a Christmas tradition in Canada, the United States, and Russia.
In the United States, they are commonly purchased in 5- or 10-pound boxes, individually wrapped in soft green paper, and given in Christmas stockings. This custom goes back to the 1880s when Japanese immigrants in the United States began receiving Japanese mandarin oranges from their families back home as gifts for the New Year. The tradition quickly spread among the non-Japanese population, and eastwards across the country: each November harvest, “The oranges were quickly unloaded and then shipped east by rail. ‘Orange Trains’ – trains with boxcars painted orange – alerted everyone along the way that the irresistible oranges from Japan were back again for the holidays. For many, the arrival of Japanese mandarin oranges signaled the real beginning of the holiday season.”
Mandarin oranges covered with snow
This Japanese tradition merged with European traditions related to the Christmas stocking. Saint Nicholas is said to have put gold coins into the stockings of three poor girls so that they would be able to afford to get married. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold, and oranges became a symbolic stand-in for these gold balls, and are put in Christmas stockings in Canada along with chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil.
Satsumas were also grown in the United States from the early 1900s, but Japan remained a major supplier. U.S. imports of these Japanese oranges was suspended due to hostilities with Japan during World War II. While they were one of the first Japanese goods allowed for export after the end of the war, residual hostility led to the rebranding of these oranges as “mandarin” oranges.
The delivery of the first batch of mandarin oranges from Japan in the port of Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), is greeted with a festival that combines Santa Claus and Japanese dancers—young girls dressed in traditional kimonos.
Traditional medicine
In traditional Chinese medicine, the dried peel of the fruit is used in the regulation of ch’i and to enhance digestion.