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The fruit was brought to Florida in the early 1900s and to California a few years later. The wide use of the term ‘tangerine’ for ‘mandarin’ has led to some confusion, though not nearly as much as the very popular easy-peel Clementine.Ĭlementines are a type of mandarin orange with a murky past: one scholar believed the varietal originated in North Africa, but another convinced most modern botanists the petite oranges probably came from the Canton region of China. Tangerines, a type of mandarin, originated in the 1800s and refer to sweet mandarins that were shipped from the Port of Tangiers, Morocco.
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The fruit originated in China, hence its name. The term “mandarin” refers to Citrus reticulate, sometimes called “kid-glove oranges,” and is characterized by deep orange skin with easy peeling and separation of sections.
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