I’ve been back home a week after a whirlwind trip to Sacramento to visit my niece’s family, then on to the San Diego area to take Mom home and visit my sister, then to see another niece and nephew in the area, then back to Phoenix to pick up my car at another niece’s house and, finally, back up the hill to Flagstaff. I should be exhausted!
Our time in Rocklin, north of Sacramento, CA where one of my niece’s lives with her husband and four children (2, 4, 6, & 8) was a new area of discovery for me. Although an old town, today it serves as a northern commuter suburb of Sacramento. It has a rich rock quarry and agricultural history and is only about 45 minutes west of the Sierra Nevada foothills and 45 minutes east of the popular Napa Valley. Although we didn’t make it to either area, it is now on my list for a future road trip. In addition to catching up with my niece and her husband, I got in on the kids softball practice, dance lessons and a school play which was great but the highlight was visiting a mandarin orchard with the family. They had been there before so the little’s were anxious to share their mandarin picking prowess with Auntie Ann.
We were there late in the mandarin season and with numerous citrus trees and fruit on offer I decided to do a little research on “the mandarin.” The most sought after variety, hailing from Japan, is the Satsuma although the Blanco and Ponkan varieties are also quite popular. They grow well in the Gulf Coast region and other parts of the south in the U.S. but also do well in central California which mimics a Mediterranean climate. As such, olives also grow well in this region so, of course, we visited an olive oil tasting store. Clementine’s, marketed under the brand names of Cuties and Halos around the holidays are actually a hybrid of mandarins and sweet oranges and there are close to 200 varieties of Mandarins that grow around the world. As with all citrus, they are high in Vitamin C which helps boost the immune system, fiber for gut health as well as flavonoids (antioxidants) known to protect against cancer.
With seven enthusiastic pickers, we ended up hauling home four large bags of mandarins which quickly led to the question: “What are we going to do with all these mandarins?” I immediately consulted Pinterest for recipes but it seemed wrong to use such beautiful fresh fruit in baked goods but what did appeal was a recipe for “Mandarin Marmalade.” We set up our operation on the kitchen table and went to town peeling, cutting and slicing rind which was added to the fruit along with too much sugar to talk about then boiled/condensed the fruit mixture, added Sure Jell, ladled it into five large jars to cool and refrigerated. We weren’t up for winter canning. I well wrapped and packed three smaller jars in my checked bag and brought one home with me to enjoy and remind me of family fun in the mandarin orchard. This ambitious project used only one bag of mandarins but my niece is convinced they will go through the remaining three bags over the coming weeks. Given 8 of us went through half of a large jar of marmalade on sourdough toast at one time, maybe she’s right. Oh, and it is delicious!