Are Mandarin Oranges, Tangerines, and Gan Mandarin Oranges Different? A Detailed Guide to Harvest Months and Prices

Mandarin oranges, tangerines, and gan mandarin oranges - many people cannot tell these three fruits apart. Are they different? In which months are they available? How much do they cost per jin? According to Rutaceae data, mandarin orange and tangerine refer to the same fruit, and people in different regions say or write it differently. Especially in northern China, people customarily write tangerine as “mandarin orange.” In southern China, most people use “tangerine” to refer to it. Fundamentally, both names refer to the same fruit. However, gan mandarin orange refers to the mature fruit of various citrus types such as tea-branch gan or zaggan.

Differences Between Mandarin Oranges, Tangerines, and Gan Mandarin Oranges

Tangerine: Also called mandarin orange (called mandarin orange in the north, tangerine in the south). The fruit is relatively small, usually oblate, with orange-red, vermilion, or orange-yellow skin. The peel is thin, the spongy layer is thin, the taste is sour or sweet, and it does not store well.

Gan mandarin orange: The fruit is relatively large, roughly spherical, with yellow, orange-yellow, or orange-red skin. The peel is coarse and thick, the spongy layer is thick, the taste is moderately sweet and sour, and it stores well.

Common tangerines include: sugar mandarin, honey mandarin, tribute mandarin, rock sugar mandarin, Nanfeng mandarin.

Common gan mandarin oranges include: Chaozhou gan, Xinhui gan, ponkan, kumquat

Among them, Xinhui dried tangerine peel, known as the first of Guangdong's Three Treasures, is made from the peel of Xinhui gan as its raw material.

In Which Months Are Mandarin Oranges, Tangerines, and Gan Mandarin Oranges Available?

1. Mandarin oranges generally begin to ripen after October. Actually, when it comes to the ripening season of citrus, because varieties differ, the ripening time of each type of citrus is different. Generally, the ripening season of tangerines is in late autumn, that is, October to November. Different varieties have different ripening periods. Early-maturing varieties ripen around National Day, ordinary ones generally from November to January of the following year, and late-maturing ones generally from November to March or April of the following year.

2. It blooms in spring and the fruit ripens from October to December. It prefers a warm and humid climate, and its cold tolerance is slightly stronger than that of pomelo, sour orange, and sweet orange.

How Much Do Mandarin Oranges, Tangerines, and Gan Mandarin Oranges Cost per Jin?

Bayannur City Sijiqing Agricultural Products Wholesale Market - tangerine price: 6.00 yuan/kg

Zhejiang Jinhua Agricultural Products Wholesale Market - tangerine price: 6.50 yuan/kg

Beijing Dayanglu Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market - tangerine price: 10.00 yuan/kg

Weihai City Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market - tangerine price: 6.00 yuan/kg