Satsumas - The Miniature Orange

I originally called these miniature oranges from a blog a few days ago . It was blouseybrown, my queen of cuisine, who suggested to me that these were satsumas. Upon a little research, I found that was true.

Satusumas are loose-skinned oranges; a type of seedless mandarin orange with thin skin.

Satsuma are grown in cool subtropical regions mostly in Japan but also in some Mediterranean countries. In the United States, it is grown mostly in the southernmost parishes of Louisiana.

The fruit from a young tree averages 1.8 inches in diameter.

Depending on the weather and climate conditions, the fruit is harvested in the early to mid-fall. The fruit is juicy and very sweet, low in acid, and almost seedless, with an average of only 1.5 seeds per orange

Satsuma mandarin may have originated in China but it was first reported in Japan more than 700 years ago where it is now the major cultivar grown. During the period 1908-1911, nearly a million budded trees for planting in the Gulf States arrived.

The name "satsuma" is credited to the wife of a United States minister to Japan, General Van Valkenberg, who sent trees home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province.

I wanted to give the size some perspective because in the earlier blip I got so close they looked like regular size oranges. When I said miniature, I'm not sure viewers really got a sense of how small these little guys really were.