Home Dinner Diva: Treat yourself with tangerines
Local

Dinner Diva: Treat yourself with tangerines

Contributors

dinner divaIt’s citrus season in the United States – that time of year when you can find those little citrus sweeties all over the grocery store. Tangerines are in season from November through April.

There are three major types of tangerines that we tend to find here in the western hemisphere: tangerines (tangerine is a type of tangerine), mandarins, and tangelos. These cute little fruit are smaller than oranges, and they also tend to be easier to peel because the peels are much looser, so they make a wonderful snack. Kids love them and, really, who doesn’t?

You start finding tangerines around Thanksgiving. The most common tangerine varieties we find here are Dancy and Fairchild.

Mandarins are known for their exquisite sweet flavor and their light orange color. Satsuma, Clementine, Royal and Honey are the most commonly found varieties of mandarin in the US.

Tangelos are very juicy and have quite a mild flavor. A hybrid between a tangerine and a grapefruit, tangelos aren’t as sweet as the other types of tangerines.

There’s a lot of nutrition packed into these small orange fruits.

A single tangerine contains:

1 gram of protein
2 grams of fiber
45% of the Vitamin C you need for the day
6% of your RDA (Recommended Daily Amount) of Vitamin A
4% of your RDA of calcium, magnesium and potassium
2% of your RDA of manganese, copper, phosphorus and zinc

Tangerines also contain notable amounts of: Vitamin B6, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamin and riboflavin.

So much goodness in these yummy little guys!

I love tangerine segments in green salads and they’re divine in coleslaw (really!), but don’t forget to pop out the seeds!

Leanne Ely is the Dinner Diva. More online at SavingDinner.com.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.