If you were blindfolded and asked to tell the difference between the two fruit you might say that the clementine was more tart, but then again, you might not. Morocco is another great source for clementines, though the tangerine is named after Tangier, the port from which the fruit was exported for many years.Ĭlementines can be almost seedless or contain as many as 20 seeds tangerines generally have seeds their skin is redder than that of a clementine. By 1999 they had increased by 10 times the amount of fruit sent to the United States. But in the early 1990s, growers in Spain, which holds almost a 90 percent share of the world's clementine export market, broadened their scope. In fact, the tangerine probably had more visibility as a winter citrus fruit. There once was a time, even as recently as the end of the 20th century, when markets, groceries, discount chains, supermarkets, warehouse stores and even department stores weren't flooded with those little wood crates of clementines this time of year. According to 'The Visual Food Encyclopedia' (Macmillan, 1996), the mandarin orange was cultivated for 3,000 years in China before it was introduced into Europe and America in the 19th century. They are both members of the mandarin family of citrus fruits, a family so named because the mandarin tree is native to China and Indochina, and its fruit was said to resemble the color of the robes that were worn by the mandarins, the leaders of the Chinese empire.

It's a tangerine? A clementine? What's the difference? It's a brilliant orange color and looks great in a bowl on the kitchen counter in the dead of a gray and gloomy winter.

It's easily peeled, easily sectioned and easy to eat.

This week's look at what's new, bountiful or mysterious in the produce aisles.

Tangerine and clementine difference