Hit The Jackpot!

It may sound like a casino, but this week’s Golden Nugget is actually a juicy, seedless tangerine wrapped in a distinctive lumpy-bumpy skin. In our climate, the Golden Nugget ripens in late January or February but can hold on the tree with no loss of quality through April and May—making it a great “bridge” fruit between winter’s oranges and grapefruits and the not-yet-ripe cherries and apricots of early summer.

Developed at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-70s, the Golden Nugget is a hybrid mandarin variety, resulting from a cross of two tangerines, Wilking and Kincy. The fruit is tart when first ripe, but mellows to sweetness as the fruit hangs on the tree before being picked in the spring. It’s often described as “Pixie-like” for its resemblance to the tiny but popular Pixie mandarin.

Along with your Golden Nuggets, you’ll find blood oranges, ruby grapefruit, kiwis, minneola tangelos, and avocados. As always, your kiwis and avocado will ripen best at room temperature. Once they yield to gentle pressure, store them in the refrigerator. Citrus keeps best (and tastes most refreshing) when stored in the refrigerator. Try using this week’s selection of citrus to make some refreshing juices for cooling off with during this week’s heat wave. Try pouring a mix of blood orange and tangelo juice over chipped ice with a splash of sparkling water.

--SJR