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| Image found at specialty produce.com |
This is the Sumo Tangerine. This is a fruit of beauty. It is sweet and juicy. The skin is the right amount of thickness, very easy to peel and seedless.
In 1970 a Japanese farmer mixed a sweet satsuma and a large orange. It took 30 years of trials and errors and the crop was not released until 1991. Now the fruit is available in the United States, Japan and Korea. It is now also grown in California.
My first encounter with this fruit is when I was standing in line at the grocery store with my Husband. The people in front of us had the most weirdest looking (what we thought was an orange) fruit. Then the couple started to peel the fruit right there at the check stand. When they bit into the fruit they closed their eyes and started to make moaning "yum" noises. I have only seen this type of excitement with 2,000 calorie sweet desserts. They then went back to get more and kept repeating, "Everyone should try these." So, we went and bought one to try. And YES, we went back and bought more. Once we went Sumo we have never turned back.
The season for the Sumo Tangerines is listed February through May. I have only found this fruit at Whole Foods for about $2.99 a pound and it only seems to stay stocked for about a month to six weeks. It is a good source of fiber, folate and potassium. It is low in acid which makes it great for people with sensitive stomachs. This is a Must Try!
