Sweet Treat: Mountain Mandarins are a Marquee Crop

BY JEFF PELLINE

WHEN IT COMES TO FINDING FARM FRESH citrus, most people think of Florida or California’s San Joaquin Valley. But the Sierra foothills are home to the crème de la crème of citrus: The Mountain Mandarin.

The Mandarin is a true citrus experience. It has a sweet and tangy scent, is seedless, convenient to eat and healthy. No utensils are needed as you peel back the rind to reveal a fruit that Mother Nature has split into even segments. None of the juice squirts all over you, either.

Mountain Mandarins (a variety known as Owari Satsuma) are one of the “super” foods— very high in vitamin C. But they also contain significant amounts of synephrine, a natural product that can help relieve cold symptoms.

“Mountain Mandarins are a unique crop that combines delicious flavor with easy peeling,” says Josh Huntsinger, Placer County’s agricultural commissioner. “Their higher-elevation growing conditions contribute to a level of flavor and sweetness that can’t be matched by valley-grown fruit.”

The dozens of orchards in Placer County—first planted in the 1880s by Welch settlers—are spread throughout rural Auburn, Newcastle, Penryn, Loomis and Lincoln. More than 30 Mandarin growers in the county form the Mountain Mandarin Growers’ Association. During harvest season, you can visit their orchards, buy a bag of freshly picked Mandarins and meet the farmers.

A few Mandarin growers are in neighboring counties, such as Johansen Ranch in Orland, now celebrating 100 years as a family farm.

Each year the harvest season begins in November and continues through January. Long hours are spent hand-snipping each stem to bring in the first crop of the season. The Satsuma Mandarins grown in the foothills originated in Japan more than 700 years ago. They were planted in the region because of their cold hardiness compared with other sweet citrus.

Mandarins, along with pears, plums and peaches, led to fruit packing facilities that made Placer County famous as a fruit-growing region.

Examples include the historic Blue Goose fruit shed in Loomis, now home to popular events such as the annual gathering of cowboy poets.

In the 1950s, farmers such as Frank Aguilar, Edmund Pilz and Frank Madison planted Mandarin trees in the region. Their boxed Mandarins soon became a gift appreciated by friends and family throughout the country, including soldiers in foreign wars.

The new generation of citrus farmers includes Steve and Lisa Pilz of Pilz Produce at Hillcrest in Penryn. “I didn’t want that lifestyle to be lost,” says Steve, who acquired the orchards from his grandfather in the ‘80s.

Mandarin Festival
The Mountain Mandarin Festival celebrates the start of the Mandarin season. This year marks the festival’s 18th anniversary.

The three-day event is held at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, November 18-20. It is a fun-filled weekend for the whole family, with food, entertainment and Mandarins to buy. There are contests, cooking demonstrations and children’s events.

The festival, the biggest of its kind, attracts 25,000 visitors each year. Growers bring thousands of familiar, 10-lb. orange-mesh bags of the fruit, ready for you to bring home to friends and family. Food vendors serve Mandarin-infused drinks, salads and grilled meats. More than 150 booths offer craft items for holiday giving.

A SUPER CITRUS

The Mandarin is a major source for Vitamin C and second only to the banana as a source of potassium. USDA scientific studies also have shown that the Mandarins grown in Placer County contain significant amounts of synephrine, a naturally occurring decongestant.

“The study suggests that there may be a natural remedy for the symptoms of allergies and the common cold, a remedy that is easy to peel, easy to eat and right in our own backyard,” says Joanne Neft, founder of the Mandarin Festival and Foothill Farmers Market.

Jeff Pelline is Editor/Publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt, a free quarterly magazine that circulates in the region, and its companion website www.SierraCulture.com. He is a member of Sacramento Connect, a network of local blogs and community news in partnership with The Bee.

(photo credit: Wayde Carroll)