FavorFlavs #14

We all have them: favorite flavors, ingredients, and kitchen tools. FavorFlavs we always find ourselves reaching for (again). These are ours.

Mandarin

We’re not going so far as to say that we cheer when the first red nets reappear in the produce aisle around October. But still, the mandarin. Sonnets should be written about it, love letters sixteen pages long, or at least a three-part Netflix series. Because that’s what this modestly sized, orange-skinned, sweet-and-sour juicy citrus fruit deserves. It refreshes, nourishes, and quenches all at once.

Every single one is an adventure in its own right. Because even though we gently squeeze it to determine its juiciness, and stroke it while rotating it in our hands to test how firmly the peel is attached, we can never be completely sure whether this one will taste just as heavenly as the five previous ones we devoured one after another.

Toward the end of the season, sometime in late February, we can taste that the best time really has passed. But letting go is difficult.

Available from greengrocers & supermarkets.

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Danique de Bruijn