oh ma’ dar-lin’ Clementine…

How I love these darling orange delights. It's like a little shot of summer that momentarily tames the frigid winter. Sweet, juicy, just the right size to pop one in your mouth and savor. I can buy them by the bagful at the Franprix around the corner for 1€59 and it lasts me a week! These little radiant orange jewels are the smallest of the mandarin family and are a cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin however controversy looms around the origin. Most accounts agree we owe our undying thanks to Father Clement, a monk in Algeria, who in the early 1900s created this hybrid in the garden of his orphanage. For that reason alone, I would buy them.

When they arrived in the US is also a bit of an enigma, some claiming as late as the 1980s, while other maintain it was being cultivated in California shorter after Father Clement’s ingenious creation. They are at their best from Late October through February and the most delightful hail from the fertile soil and intense sunshine of the hills of Spain along the Mediterranean.

Like it matters because I’d eat them anyways but… these delectable little treats have 3 grams of fiber each! That’s more than a slice of whole wheat bread! Delicious, delightful and de-healthy (thank you Cole Porter).  Now I’ll take these any day over Mirielle Guiliano’s (French Women Don’t Get Fat) Boiled Leek Broth!  Ha!  And between you and me, I’ve seen a few fat French women since landing on these glorious shores almost a year ago!

Tomorrow – my recipe, along with a few pics, of Soufflé aux Clémentines! too tired to cook it tonight, must go to sleep, this work thing is really cutting into my cooking and blogging time! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Comments

[Abby]

Nigella Lawson does amazing things with Clementines. I think the Clementine cake recipe is in How to Eat, and she puts whole clementines in her food processor!

[Giao]

I think the Europeans might have a better appreciation of the fruit?! I hadn't really appreciated them till I met my hubby. We now get them by the boxloads as soon as they come into season. He calls them satsumas though...are they the same thing?

Love the extra tidbits about the fiber and such. I am bad at keeping track of nutritive content but appreciate it when people remind me it's a good thing to do.

[rowena]

I came over by way of Giao and ooooooh!!! What a nice find! I can't wait to see the soufflè.

[Lisa]

My children devour clementines as fast as I can buy them. In Brooklyn I used to buy them by the crate, but here in Paris I haven't seen them sold in that manner.

At the produce store on the rue de l'annociation in Passy, there's a handsome young salesman who stands outside and sings, to the tune of "La Cucaracha,"

La clementina, la clementina, elle est pleine de vitamines...

[Stephanie]

Oh my word, I LOVE your site. All these amazing links! Recipes! Pictures of clementines! (Like Giao I buy clementines by the box. So delicious.)
Looking forward to the souffle!

[Nancy]

what is the scientific name of clementine?
thnx