Day 164

Satsuma Orange: By now, I'm sure my readers know that I love discovering new produce, especially fruits. The variations sometimes seem endless, even though it might appear that I've eaten everything under the sun already. On my last trip to the BHFM a couple days ago, I noticed that they were demoing a couple different types of fruit. While I've tried quite a few varieties of orange, I'd never heard of these Satsumas. They looked to be a bit smaller than a Valencia, almost like a Mandarin in size. I love oranges, so I snapped a couple quick pics (since their lighting was good) and put one in my basket.

When I cut one open tonight at home, it looked like any other orange on the inside, with the same segmenting seen in lots of varieties. I peeled it and broke it into a few segments, then took a bite of one. It reminded me a lot of Mandarin orange - sweet, but not quite as sweet as a Valencia or navel, and little more sour. I couldn't really tell a difference at all between the Satsuma and mandarin, to be honest. It was really juicy and good, but it didn't really offer any new flavors for me. I'd definitely eat it again, though - it's hard to resist good citrus fruit.

According to Wikipedia, the Satsuma is a relative of the Mandarin that's often referred to as "seedless Mandarin." It comes from Japanese origin and was brought to the U.S. during the 18th century. They apparently grow regularly in Florida as well as a few other states. Interesting.