In the late fall, they start to change from green to yellow to orange - each variety on a slightly different schedule, and each variety a slightly different hue, ultimately. Small green fruitlets form and enlarge through the summer. Here is how an orange or tangerine grows: In the late winter or spring, the tree flowers. Oranges and tangerines get sweeter the longer they hang on the tree. I pick them for her at least a month before I start picking for myself. The right time to harvest is whenever they taste good - to you. I told him it was time to pick them then. My friend said he’d picked some of his tangerines and they’d tasted fine. Yet taste is the only conclusive test of whether or not it’s time for you to pick the oranges and tangerines from your tree. Our oranges and mandarins taste better too, in my opinion they have more citrus tang whereas I find the tropical fruit insipid. (Read more about citrus peel coloration in this University of Florida publication.) Oranges and tangerines grown in California are far prettier than those grown in tropical climates, and it’s because of our colder nights. Nighttime low temperatures in Costa Rica are not low enough to turn them a uniform and beautiful orange, as they get in California. But they’re as mature and colored as they’ll ever get there. If found in a grocery store in the U.S., they’d never sell. (As an aside, let me acknowledge that I’m using “ mandarin” and “tangerine” interchangeably in this article even though a citrus taxonomist would rightly point out that they’re not synonymous.) What causes the rind to turn orange, then, if not overall fruit maturity? Let me show you some “mandarinas” that I bought on a recent trip to Costa Rica. So the rind color is something of an indicator of maturity, but its not directly linked to how sweet the inside is. Gold Nuggets from this tree don’t taste sweet until March at the earliest. But they were still pretty sour on this date. Here is a photo I took of my tree on January 15. Take the Gold Nugget mandarin, for example. However, it’s true that some varieties turn orange long before they taste sweet. So once they’ve changed color, you can consider giving them a pick and taste. No sweet oranges or tangerines that I know of will be ripe in our climate before they’ve turned orange. Part of the maturing process of oranges and tangerines in Southern California is that they eventually fade their rind color from green to orange. So let’s get nuanced, botanical, even maybe philosophical. We had been surfing during that terse exchange, but we don’t have to shout in between waves here. But then I remembered that for some people gardening is full of rights and wrongs he was afraid there was a correct or incorrect time to pick his tangerines. My first thought was, it’s obvious, you pick them when they taste good. Recipes include tangerine & chocolate truffles, tangerine lobster tails, spinach and tangerine salad, tangerine and cardamom glazed roasted vegetables and tangerine glazed ham with fresh sage.A friend asked me how to know when to pick the tangerines from his tree.
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