Recipe: Preserving / Canning Mandarin Oranges

Mandarins

Types:
Satsumas: Very sweet, seedless, medium sized, free skinned
Clementines: Small, very orange, few seeds, very sweet

Buying Tips:

CHOOSE: Mandarins that are tight-skinned, shiny, solid and firm. Medium sized fruit is generally the best. Very large fruit can lack taste; very small fruit can be bitter.

AVOID: Soft, puffy, dull-colored mandarins, or mandarins with cut or punctured skin, or very soft spots (all signs of decay, which spreads rapidly).

Mandarins are NOT suitable for dehydrating.

6 medium or 3 large size = 1 pint

1 medium = 1-1 1/2 teaspoons dried zest

Handling and Storage:

Mandarins are sold ripe and ready to eat. They are relatively perishable and have a shorter storage life than oranges. Mandarins should be handled carefully, even though they are a firm, solid fruit.

At home:

Mandarins can be stored at cool room temperature (60 to 70 F) for up to one week, in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Uses:

Fresh:

Mandarins are best peeled and enjoyed "as is." They can also be added to fruit, poultry, meat, or green salads. For desserts, they can be served over pound cake or ice cream with sprinkles of orange liqueur. Mandarin orange juice is good plain or blended with ice cream for a cool refresher.

Whole mandarins can be studded with whole cloves to be used as fragrant pomanders around the house. The fragrance is a pleasant treat, especially around the holidays and they will last for three to six months. The pomanders can be rinsed off when no longer attractive, dried and the cloves reused for another pomander.

Home processing:

Canning: To extend the season of mandarins, they can be canned. Peel, separate the segments, pack in jars with a sugar syrup and process in a simmering hot water bath (30 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts).

Mandarins can also be used in marmalades, sauces, ciders or glazes.

Freezing: Whole, unpeeled mandarins can be frozen on a cookie sheet for two to four hours. They can then be peeled and eaten at any stage of thawing. Peeled sections can also be frozen in syrup (the peels can be saved and used in other recipes). They should keep in the freezer for six to ten months.

Dehydrating: Although mandarins are not recommended for drying, the peels can be dried successfully and can either be reconstituted or ground into a powder- either way, they are a tasty addition to baked foods, oriental dishes, or even teas and other beverages. Mandarin peels can be candied before drying, to be used in candies, cakes or puddings.

To make mandarin orange zest, wash and dry mandarins, then lightly grate peel (avoiding the bitter white pith) and dry on dehydrator trays until crisp.