SWEET AND SOUR

Winter season is citrus season. Imported oranges and mandarins, satsumas, clementins. I could never figure out which little citrus was which, since grocery stores weren't exactly bothered with accuracy on the subject. They'd pretty much use the same signs regardless of which kind of citrus they were selling that week. Let's sort things out. 

Mandarin orange

Yellow to orange peel, thin peel, plenty of seeds. Sweeter than clementine.

Mandarins are so full of seeds that they're practically never distributed for sale. Instead, "mandarin" has become a groupname for all kinds of small citrus fruits. 

Clementin  (Citrus clementina)
Slightly thicker peel, rarely any seeds. A breed between mandarin orange and bitter orange (pomerans).
The former bestseller during christmas.

Satsuma (Citrus unshiu)
Slightly thinner peel, at times slightly green peel even when ripe, rarely andy seeds. Originally from Japan. The new bestseller in Scandinavia.

Tangerine
A type of mandarin oranges, mainly grown in the United States.

(Or just do as my son and call them mini-oranges...)
IMAGE: THE GRAPHICS FAIRY