Menu Planning Guide

Heading into cooler months, you can look forward to the colors, flavors and easy-to-peel citrus varieties. Your guests will be ready for some juicy, seasonal selections that they haven’t seen in many months. Clementine tangerines, Dancy tangerines and Cara Cara navel oranges have grown in popularity to the point that your customers look for them at the supermarket.

Clementine tangerines are popular during the holiday season and are sometimes given as gifts, partly because they are widely available mid-November through January. The fruit is easy to distinguish for its round middle and flatter top and bottom. The size peaks on medium, large and jumbo.

The fruit has a smooth, glossy thin skin with a juicy, sweet flesh. It segments easily and contains few, if any, seeds.

Flavor Notes – Clementine tangerines have a distinctive wildflower and pomegranate aroma with a crisp apricot nectar flavor and a rich raisin-like after taste.

Quick Clementine Menu Inspirations
Fresh Tangerine Confetti Salsa – Combine fresh-squeezed Clementine juice, diced Clementine segments, cooked corn, black beans, diced red and green bell peppers, salt and pepper. Toss gently to blend, cover and refrigerate. Serve inside a warm fresh corn tortilla with shredded lettuce to make a vegetarian taco. Also goes well with grilled chicken.

Cara Cara navel oranges are sought after during December through January, for their extremely sweet, rich pink interior. The acid content is relatively low, making it one of the more mild citrus varieties. They contain very few seeds.

This unique navel variety actually is the offspring of its parent, the Washington navel. Common sizes are 72s, 88s and 113s.

Flavor Notes – The Cara Cara navel orange’s pink flesh has a tangy cranberry appeal with cherry-flavored undertones. The fresh-fruit scent is a bit tropical.

Quick Cara Cara Menu Inspirations
Mini Chicken ‘n Orange Wraps - In a bowl, combine shredded, cooked chicken, diced Cara Cara oranges with juice, green onions, diced roasted red peppers and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Heat several 6-inch flour tortillas, spoon in the chicken mixture, add alfalfa sprouts and roll up tightly. Cover and chill. To make a sauce, combine chopped orange, chopped roasted red peppers and olive oil and blend in a blender until smooth. Cut the wraps in half diagonally and serve with room-temperature sauce.

Dancy Tangerines are available mid-December through January. They were introduced to the U.S. from Morocco and were the tangerine originally associated with Christmas.

The size peaks on medium, large and jumbo with a thin, deep-reddish exterior. It is full of juice with a moderate amount of seeds and is easy to peel.

Flavor Notes – The clover honey and orange blossom aroma gives way to a fresh watermelon flavor and a tart plum-like finish. It has a rich, sweet flavor.

Quick Dancy Tangerine
Menu Inspirations
Two Mushroom Tangerine Sauté - Heat some chicken broth in a skillet and sauté onions, garlic and tangerine peel for a few minutes. Stir in destemmed shiitake, woodear or enoki mushrooms, add more broth as necessary and cook a few minutes more before adding brown mushrooms and more broth, if needed. Add chopped basil, salt and pepper and continue cooking. Finish with tangerine segments and cook an additional minute. Drain and serve immediately.