Introducing California Mikan
Last week we visited several Tango mandarin groves tucked into the Temecula hillside. The trees were still being watered and cared for, but most of the fruit was being left unpicked. It's a strange feeling to stand in a grove full of delicious fruit, knowing that no one will get to enjoy it.
The Tango Story
Tango is a seedless mandarin developed at UC Riverside. It became the defining fruit of the 2000s mandarin boom, sold to you in grocery stores as Cuties and Halos. As demand grew, Tango cultivation spread from the flat plains of California’s Central Valley to the steep, avocado-growing hills around Temecula.
Eventually, supply outpaced demand. Picking, packing, and selling the fruit became more expensive than simply leaving it on the tree. So the hillside groves, the hardest ones to farm, were the first to be left behind.
The California Mikan Story
The following weekend, we returned to Temecula, scaled the steep hills, and picked a small batch of late-season mandarins. We are calling it California Mikan, a mandarin shaped by the California hills.
Morning fog over the rocky slopes — the same fast-draining ground that concentrates the flavor.
The fruit is sweet, juicy, and intensely flavorful. The hillside’s fast drainage and unique microclimates create a concentrated flavor, similar to our hillside Kishu. Because it is late in the season, not every mandarin is cosmetically perfect. Some have sun spots, blemishes, and uneven coloring, but the fruit inside is excellent.
We sold our initial harvest and plan to continue picking while the fruit remains good. Much of it will go toward a mandarin syrup we are developing, but we also want to share fresh fruit with our Communitree.
How To Get Some
We plan to pick on Saturday mornings, do local pickups that same afternoon, and ship boxes on Monday and Tuesday. As always, our goal is to get you mandarins as fresh as possible.