©Louise BrodieNules represent more than 70% of the total area under clementines.Ĭlementines are thought to have developed out of an accidental hybrid composed of mandarin seedlings. It is moderately seedy to seedless and harvested from May to June. Nova is a hybrid that developed out of clementine mandarin and olando tangelo. The fruit is harvested from mid-June to mid-August. The best South African Nardorcott fruit is sold under the ClemenGold® brand. The variety is under plant breeders rights, with the Nardorcott Protection Company in Morocco managing cultivar rights in the Northern Hemisphere and Citrogold in South Africa managing it in the Southern Hemisphere. This variety is in high demand because it is virtually seedless, with an outstanding eating quality and high sugars combined with intense flavour. The growers realised that the seedlings had lost their seeded character when they were not pollinated. Nardocott developed more than forty years ago out of Murcott seedlings at an experimental station in Morocco.

Nova accounted for 19% and Tango represented about 12% of the total area under production. While a large range of mandarin varieties is planted, Nardorcott was the most widely planted, at roughly 37% of all the plantings. In 2017, mandarins were the most planted soft citrus, it accounted for nearly 75% of the total area under production.

From there the citrus made its way to China, and from there to Europe and North Africa. Mandarins, however, are believed to have descended from wild oranges that grew in northeast India more than 3 000 years ago. Mandarins refer to soft citrus thought to have developed in southwest China, whereas tangerines are thought to have developed in Tangiers, a city in Morocco. The difference in name lies in the place the fruit was thought to have originated from. Mandarins and tangerines are technically the same fruit. ©Louise BrodieMandarins are the biggest soft citrus category.

Clementine satsuma mandarin tangerine