Seasonal produce
When are clementines in season?
Clementines are a group of mandarins. In California, University of California sources put the harvest from fall into winter, and the window depends on where the trees grow: late October to mid-December in the San Joaquin Valley, and October to December in Riverside. Dates below are California-scoped unless another source is named.
Clementine season at a glance
A UC Cooperative Extension newsletter article (Craig Kallsen, Topics in Subtropics, 2007) says San Joaquin Valley clementines mature early in the mandarin season, late October to mid-December. The same issue says most California mandarins grow in Kern and Tulare counties. UC ANR Publication 8472 charts ‘Algerian’ and ‘Nules’ clementines bearing October to December in Riverside. Mid-October is the front edge of those windows; ask your local market what is in this week.
By region
San Joaquin Valley (commercial groves): late October to mid-December (Kallsen, UC Cooperative Extension). Riverside: October to December for ‘Algerian’ and ‘Nules’ (UC ANR Publication 8472). A UC Cooperative Extension Riverside County citrus Q&A for home growers (Peggy Mauk and Tom Shea) gives a later window for ‘Algerian’ Clementine: December through February. Backyard trees can run later than the commercial window. Outside California, ask a local grower; this guide has no other state’s dates.
Clementine vs mandarin vs satsuma vs tangerine
UC Cooperative Extension says ‘mandarin’ and ‘tangerine’ are used interchangeably in the US, and both include subgroups such as the clementines and the satsumas. So a clementine is a kind of mandarin. Satsumas are another subgroup: UC ANR Publication 8472 describes ‘Owari’, the most common satsuma in the US, as seedless and cold-hardy, and charts satsumas at October to December in Riverside. ‘Algerian’ was the original clementine brought to California, in 1914, and ‘Nules’ is now the most widely grown clementine in the state (Publication 8472). Both are seedless when grown away from other citrus (Publication 8472); Kallsen notes clementines can become seedy if cross-pollinated. If you see a similar small mandarin from January to March, it may be ‘W. Murcott’: Kallsen says it looks and tastes similar but matures later, early January through March in the San Joaquin Valley.
How to pick them
The UC Davis Postharvest Center’s mandarin fact sheet lists the quality signs used in the trade: color intensity and uniformity, firmness, and freedom from decay and defects. Use the same signs at the store: deep, even color, firm fruit and no soft or moldy spots. For satsumas, Mauk and Shea warn that fruit left on the tree too long quickly becomes puffy and bland, though picked fruit stores well.
How to store them
UC Davis gives the commercial storage range for mandarins as 41 to 46 degrees F with 90 to 95 percent relative humidity, for 2 to 6 weeks depending on variety and ripeness at harvest. Below 41 degrees F, chilling injury (pitting and brown spots, followed by more decay) gets worse the longer the fruit stays there. Signs of aging are shriveling and peel damage around the stem end (UC Davis). These are commercial cold-storage figures, not home-refrigerator advice.
What to cook this month
Peel and eat, or pair clementines with other fall fruit. See when persimmons, pomegranates and apples are in season, plus the October and November produce guides and the produce checklist.
Recipes and related guides
October produce guide · November produce guide · When are persimmons in season? · When are pomegranates in season? · When are apples in season? · When is grapefruit in season? · When are Meyer lemons in season? · Produce checklist
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