Despite the heat of summer, mandarin growers are busy tending to their orchards in anticipation of the chilly winter air when the sweet mandarins are ripe and ready to be picked. Just in time for the return of cold and flu season, Placer County Satsuma mandarins, made famous for their cold fighting benefits in a study by the USDA, are in harvest!
Placer County’s Mountain Mandarin Growers Association (MMGA) is happy to announce their second annual Orchard Days festivities. The season kicks off with the 20th anniversary of the Mountain Mandarin Festival on November 22, 23 and 24 at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn.
Following the festival, the MMGA will host Mountain Mandarin Orchard Days on December 7, 8, 21 and 22. Orchard Days will feature the sale of fresh mandarins at various orchards, mandarin products, crafts, art, farm animals and much more. For information about Mountain Mandarin Orchard Days, please visit
MountainMandarins.com.
Placer County Owari Satsuma mandarins offer high concentrations of the cold fighting phytochemical synephrine, as reported in 2008 by the USDA’s Department of Agriculture and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. According to the study of mandarins grown in the Placer County orchards, synephrine concentrations were found to be up to six times higher than values previously determined for orange juices.
"Placer County mandarins are more flavorful because we let them ripen on the trees and hand pick them to be sure they are nice andsweet. And kids love them because they are easy to peel, making them a perfect snack," explained Rich Colwell, President of the MMGA and owner of Colwell Thundering Herd Ranch. "This year we expect an early, bumper crop due to the warm spring, so there'll be plenty for holiday giving."
Mandarins have been a farming tradition for more than 125 years in the Placer County foothills. The first mandarin trees were planted in the 1880s by Welsh settlers in the town of Penryn. The Welsh planted orchards of pears, plums, peaches, oranges and mandarins, which possessed more cold hardiness than other “sweet” citrus. Frank Aguilar, Ed Pilz, and Harold Struble planted mandarin trees in Penryn during the 1950s. Together they purchased a sizing machine and began supplying fresh mandarins to local customers and grocery stores. Boxed mandarins soon became a much-anticipated gift throughout the country and with soldiers in foreign wars.
Today, close to 40 mandarin growers throughout Placer County make up the Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association. From Auburn to Loomis, Lincoln to Penryn and Newcastle, the warm days and cool nights make this area a perfect place to grow this sweet, seedless, popular fruit.
“Placer County is unique in that our mandarin industry is based in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our mountain mandarins are generally more flavorful and of a higher overall quality when compared to fruit grown on the valley floor. This high-quality fruit is something we are very proud of in our community,” explained Josh Huntsinger, Placer County Agricultural Commissioner. “We look forward to continuing the Orchard Days tradition this fall as a way to introduce Northern Californians to one of Placer County’s premier crops.”
About Mountain Mandarin Growers’ Association (MMGA)
Close to 40 mandarin growers throughout Placer County make up the Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association. From Auburn to Loomis, Lincoln to Penryn and Newcastle, the warm days and cool nights make it the perfect place to grow this sweet, seedless, popular fruit. The MMGA’s goal as an organization is to provide tree ripened, hand picked mandarins that have a global market appeal. The public is encouraged to visit the orchards during harvest season from mid-November through January each year.
For more information visit
MountainMandarins.com.
Blog Post information and picture courtesy of Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association.
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