In order not to make mistakes when choosing mandarins for you and your family, especially for children, you must do it well. As many people as tastes. This also applies to mandarin. An incredibly delicious citrus with a surprisingly fresh flavor. In the 21st century you can buy tangerines all year, even in regions where they do not grow.
In the middle belt of Russia, the most sold are Moroccans, abjasias and Egyptians. But recently it is possible to know new varieties of tangerines that are put on sale with the twigs and leaves on top. It’s about Chinese mandarins.
What is Chinese mandarin
Today there are two mandarin varieties in the world market.
- “The Shivamikan. Its peel is bright yellow and has a slightly flattened shape. They mature between the end of October and the beginning of November, depending on the climate.
- The ‘Satsuma’. This variety is characterized by a yellow, but bulky cortex. Mature at the end of November or early December.
The pulp of any variety of Chinese mandarin is quite thick and the segments usually vary in size. Its flavor is acidic and they rarely have seeds. Mandarins are grown throughout China.
They are groves of perennial leaf trees, not branched, up to 4 meters high, with gray cortex and brown stripes. Their young outbreaks are dark green and their leaves are coriaceas and very dense to touch.
Chinese mandarin flowers are very small and have a creamy white tone, similar to very light coffee crowned with double cream. It blooms from February to April.
From the moment it blooms until it produces rounded, flattened fruits, orange yellow, with a friable nucleus and a thin and easy to give off, an incredible aroma floats in the air until the last tangerine is collected. This surprisingly succulent pulp is made up of 10 to 13 slices of size.
The trees begin to bear fruit almost immediately, with up to a thousand fruits per year per plant. But the greatest yields come from planting number 23 of mandarins. The average age of a Chinese mandarin is 75 years (like that of a human being).
Important and interesting mandarin is the most common citrus in the world. It is especially abundant in Eastern countries such as India, China, South Korea/North and Japan. Mandarins are appreciated and cultivated throughout the Mediterranean: in France (South), Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt. The American tangerines of Cuba and Florida (USA) are very tasty. In addition to those mentioned, tangerines can be found in Brazil and Argentina, in Abjasia and in Armenia.
Chemical composition and caloric value
The main characteristics of all Chinese mandarin varieties are early maturation and their good frost resistance. Much more than all other citrus varieties, even orange, and that all other types and varieties of tangerine.
As for their chemical composition and caloric value, Chinese mandarins do not differ from any other variety. All mandarins contain:
| Mandarin name Pulp Properties | Percentage in 100g |
| Water | 89. 7 |
| Citric acid | 1,1 |
| Saccharose | 6,4 |
| Essential oil | 2,5 |
| Organic acids | 1,8 |
The tangerine shell contains only 5% essential oil; The rest consists of 95% of bitter coloring substances and flavonoid glycosides. There are only 35 kcal in 100 g of tangerine pulp. The chemical composition of 100 g of tangerine is presented in the following table.
| Element name | Quantity in mg |
| Vitamin “pp | 0,3 |
| Vitamin “E”/te | 0,2 |
| Thiamine (“b1”) | 0. 06 |
| Betacarotene | 0. 06 |
| Pyridoxin (“b6”) | 0. 07 |
| Pure iron | 0,1 |
| Vitamin “A” (“Re”) | 0,1 |
| Riboflavina “B2 | 0. 03 |
| Vitamin C | 38 |
| Magnesium | 11 |
| Potassium | 155 |
| Match | 17 |
| Sodium | 12 |
| Calcium | 35 |
| Carbohydrates | 7. 5 г |
| Dietary fiber | 2, 1 г |
| Proteins | 1. 4 г |
| Fats | 0. 2 г |
| Monosaccharides | 3 г |
| Disaccharides | 4. 6 г |
| Ashes | 0. 5 г |
| Organic acids | 1. 1 г |
| Water | 80 г |
Chinese mandarin properties
Mandarins are a basic food, capable of opening appetite. Chinese mandarin juice is incredibly tasty and healthy. It has a slightly acidic but very refreshing flavor. If you drink it in the morning, as soon as you get up, it will be in a good mood all day.
Chinese pharmacists love using the dry shell of local tangerines to make pharmaceutical products, syrups and extracts. The Chinese tangerine shell is an excellent substitute for orange skin, as an indispensable potentiator of flavor in many medications.
It was these mandarins that became the raw material of the food allergen used for diagnosis. This is the Allergenum E Citrus, an immune diagnosis agent of the pharmacological group.
How interesting! Today, in the edition of the GFC (China State Pharmacopoeia) only the dried peel of the naturally matured fruits of the Chinese mandarin is included (which is very important!). Chinese healers actively use it to treat all kinds of pulmonary and gastrointestinal ailments, avitaminosis and anorexia.
Mandarins are used in culinary and domestic applications, herbalism, cosmetology/medicine.
In the kitchen.
In addition to its natural appearance and fresh juice, with the mandarins an incredibly tasty jam/jam is prepared. Chinese mandarin is used as a spice for meat, birds and fish dishes, and to aromatize tea when preparing it. Mandarin slices adorn any dessert, including ice cream, and constitute a very tasty snack tincture.
In cosmetology.
Extracts and tangerine oil are added to facial and bodily creams and masks, shampoos and capillary balms. Mandarin contains bet a-carotene, which favors the regeneration of the skin and shines and silk to the hair.
In cultivation.
Dwarf mandarines, raised in China and Japan, are excellent indoor plants. The Chinese mandarin actively fruit in his third year at home. However, it can reach a height of just over two meters.
At home.
His dry mandarin skins are an excellent flavoring and antiolor.
Benefits
Chinese mandarin has beneficial properties in its pulp, its peel and even its white sepals. Studies conducted in China in 2017 showed that regular mandarin consumption helps reduce liver obesity and fat accumulation.
If you eat tangerines regularly but without lack of control, then:
- You can maintain a balance of vitamins and micronutrients in your body all the time.
- It is good to calm the thirst.
- Thanks to mandarins you can avoid nerve tension and always be in a good mood. Mandarin pulp is an excellent antidepressant.
- With a reconstituent effect and antimicrobial properties, tangerines help cure and prevent infectious colds/diseases as soon as possible.
- They have a unique ability to strengthen heart muscle and blood vessels.
- Chinese mandarin shell infusion helps improve digestion and accelerate the organism’s metabolic processes. The same infusion helps relieve morning nausea of pregnant women.
- The phytoncides present in Chinese mandarins in large quantities allow to cure some skin diseases.
The main raw materials used are tangerine pulp, used to make syrups and tinctures, and tangerine peel, used to extract tangerine oil, used not only in pharmacy, but also in cosmetics.
Are Chinese mandarins harmful?
Chinese tangerines, like all tangerines, can increase the acidity of gastric juice. That is why they are contraindicated in people with diseases such as stomach ulcers, inflammation of the intestines and gastritis with hyperacidity. They are also contraindicated in the presence of nephritis, hepatitis and cholecystitis.
Tangerine is a citrus, which means it can cause allergic reactions. Concentrated tangerine juice in large quantities can damage tooth enamel.
Nutrition experts do not recommend the consumption of mandarins, especially the Chinese ones (which have recently appeared on the market), for lactating and pregnant women, so that very young children are not prone to citrus allergies and do not suffer from diathesis.. Young children should also not abuse this delicious fruit for the same reason.
Important: concentrated tangerine juice has a negative effect on tooth enamel. Therefore, for lovers of tangerines, it is best to squeeze the juice, dilute it in half with water and drink it through a straw. In this way, the impact on the teeth will be minimal. Mandarins should also be consumed with caution during pregnancy, lactation, and at a young age, due to the possibility of allergic reactions.
People, regardless of age, suffering from diabetes (of any kind) should eat tangerines with caution: they contain a lot of sugar, which is quickly absorbed into the human bloodstream, leading to undesirable consequences.
How interesting! There is a hypothesis that Chinese mandarins are cultivated by accelerating their ripening process with special chemicals. As a result, they contain high levels of pesticides. Both in the skin and in the pulp.
How to choose the right one
The most important rule when choosing a mandarin is its freshness, which can be deduced from the aroma and the shape of the leaves and twigs. The fruit is often treated with all sorts of chemicals to keep it looking marketable for longer.
That is why it is important to know when a concrete lot of this citrus arrived at the store and from which country it proceeded. The skin of the fruit should not be very soft or anything dry, without spots or aqueous or gorgeous areas.
However, the main danger to the buyer is the possibility of acquiring rancid citrus or cultivated with dangerous substances. You have to slightly rub the twig and then the sheet with your fingers. This should leave a herbaceous aroma in your hand.
It will not be overwhelming, but barely noticeable. If there is no smell, it is very likely that the fruit has been grown with unhealthy fertilizers. It is one of the simplest ways to check if the Chinese tangerines that are sold are bad for health.
How to eat mandarins correctly and in what amounts without harming health?
It is beneficial to eat three Chinese mandarins a day for immunosuppressed people and children from 6 years. To be fair, it should be noted that mandarins of other varieties and species can be eaten in major quantities: up to five pieces.
Important! Unfortunately, despite all its beneficial properties, tangerines can harm the human body if consumed inadequately and uncontrolled. It is such a tasty fruit, that eating a few kilos at once could cause a personal intolerance to all citrus fruits for years.
You should not store large amounts of tangerines. You have to buy them in small quantities, to be able to consume them in three days. This juicy fruit can be spoiled quite quickly if stored for too long.
Conclusion
Due to its low cost and the experience of Chinese healers and the treatises of Eastern Medicine, a tincture and decoction elaborated with the dry peel of the “China” mandarin has been actively used as an antitusigen in persistent bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs. It also helps get rid of nausea.
Attention is not uncommon for Chinese mandarins to “falsify” and get through Spanish and abjasias. But it is quite easy to distinguish between a Chinese tangerine and an abjasia: they always have leaves and twigs. These mandarins have a longer life than the others.
To conserve mandarins for a long time without losing their quality, you have to save them in a refrigerated closet, on a shelf reserved to the fruit and vegetable compartment, without removing their twigs and leaves.
